Dan-el Padilla Peralta joins humanities faculty at ASU

In August 2026, the esteemed historian and professor of classics, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, will join the stellar faculty of internationally acclaimed humanities scholars at Arizona State University. Coming by way of Princeton, Padilla brings to ASU a wealth of innovative teaching practices and scholarly insights.

“Dan-el Padilla Peralta is in the vanguard of scholars working to ensure that the complexities of the past are not flattened in service to the monochrome myths of our day,” said Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU.

“His rigorous work has had tremendous impact across premodern studies, and we are fortunate indeed to have him join our community.”

Padilla is the author of many books, including “Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League” (Penguin 2016), “Divine Institutions: Religions and Community in the Middle Roman Republic” (Princeton 2020), and “Classicism and Other Phobias,” which was published this year by Princeton University Press. He has written for The Guardian, Matter, Vox, The New York Times, Fabulist, diaphanes and Public Books, and he was profiled in The New York Times Magazine in 2021.

His scholarship investigates the histories and ecologies of western Afro-Eurasia, especially the arc of Roman slavery in the period of Rome’s imperial expansion. At the forefront of his field, his scholarship incorporates comparative histories of slavery, Black feminist theory and historiography, premodern critical race studies, and sociologies of knowledge production.

As a professor in the School of International Letters and Cultures, Padilla will offer courses on ancient Mediterranean histories, literatures and cultures. Previous classes he has designed and taught at Princeton include “Citizenships, Ancient and Modern,” “Problems in Ancient History: Ancient Media, Modern Media Theory,” and “Problems in Ancient History: Scenes of Subjection.”

“Professor Padilla’s scholarship and teaching reflect exactly what we value in the humanities — a global, inclusive approach that connects the ancient world to the present,” said Sara Beaudrie, the director of the School of International Letters and Cultures. “He brings energy, vision and a deep commitment to students that will enrich our entire community.”

Padilla has collaborated with the ASU community for many years already — he was a featured speaker at the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ RaceB4Race symposium in 2021 and joined the RaceB4Race executive board shortly thereafter. 

He is a member of the ACMRS Press editorial board and has contributed teaching materials to Throughlines, the Mellon Foundation-funded pedagogical resource created by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 

Last year, The College Division of Humanities hosted him as the annual Marshall Distinguished Lecturer.

In addition to his position in the School of International Letters and Cultures, Padilla will continue to work with the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies as an affiliate. 

“Professor Padilla will be an invaluable addition to the ASU community,” said Ayanna Thompson, the executive director of the center. “As a leader in changing scholarly and pedagogical approaches to ancient cultures and texts, he will inspire and challenge many generations to come. Princeton’s loss is ASU’s great gain!”

Of his move to ASU, Padilla said, “The commitments enshrined in ASU’s charter are inspirational and resonant for me. ASU is the ideal place to pursue a maximally inclusive and community-oriented program of teaching and research about the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean worlds and their modern legacies. I’m honored by ASU’s trust in me to carry out that work, and I can’t wait to join colleagues at the School of International Letters and Cultures and the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.”