From philosophy to film, humor to practical politics, Charles Peterson’s interests range far and wide

On a college campus, it’s not unusual to see a political poster on a professor’s office door. It’s less common to find the professor’s own name on it. But for Charles Peterson, associate professor of Africana studies at The College of Wooster, it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“This is a part of what Africana studies does — positively engage the world,” he says.

Peterson recently won reelection to a third term on the city council in Oberlin, where he lives with his wife, a professor of African American studies and literature at Oberlin College. The bi-monthly council meetings, where the agenda can range from zoning issues to plans to develop an Underground Railroad interpretive center in a restored 19th century building, have been “an education in how cities work.”

A philosopher by training, Peterson says Wooster’s Africana studies department “gives me a lot of freedom compared to a traditional philosophy department.” His scholarly interests include Africana intellectual history, African American literature, and Afri-Marxist philosophy. He has taught a First-Year Seminar on African American humor and a course on the cinema of Africa and the African diaspora. Earlier this year, he published DuBois, Fanon, Cabral: The Margins of Elite Anti-Colonial Leadership, which examined the overlap of culture, class, and political leadership in African liberation struggles.

Peterson also is interested in the dynamic behind the rise of a new generation of African American leaders in the U.S., exemplified by Cory Booker, who was elected mayor of Newark, N.J., in 2006, and most prominently by Sen. Barack Obama.

Whereas civil rights era figures such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson became identified as exclusively African American leaders, Peterson says the new generation is viewed differently.

“Obama and Booker can articulate the specific concerns of the black community, but they also have shown themselves to be able to represent other, broader constituencies fairly, without compromising,” he says, raising the hope that “we can make a generational leap away from re-fighting the same battles of the Sixties.”

Now in his eighth year at Wooster, Peterson has served as advisor for a wide range of Independent Studies, the college’s signature program of mentored undergraduate research. Often, the projects have been multi-disciplinary, combining Africana studies with history, sociology, even theatre.

“I’ve had great experiences as a co-advisor [for a double major]. Each time, it’s been an opportunity for me to learn, too,” he says.

Asked to give his impression of Wooster students, the first word Peterson uses to describe them is “sincere.”

“That’s an amazing thing in a jaded age,” he continues, “but they really care about the discipline and about their work.”

Peterson has stayed in touch with many of his former students and follows both their personal and professional growth with interest and affection.  Like the students themselves, he says he measures his own success or failure “based on who they are as people, not just what they do.”