Carlos Figueroa, PhD
Carlos Figueroa has a dual Ph.D. in Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research and currently teaches in the Politics Department at Ithaca College. He researches and writes on race, religion, and class politics, the politics of U.S. citizenship, U.S. Quakerism, and U.S. Puerto Rico affairs. Some of his academic/intellectual work has appeared in the Journal of Public Affairs Education, Journal of Race and Policy, Political Science Quarterly, Annales: Ethics in Economic Life, Fair Observer, the University of Virginia Press, and the University Press of Kansas, among others. His first book, Quakers, Race, and Empire: Political Ecumenism and U.S. Insular Policy in the Early Twentieth Century (under review, University of Kansas Press), shows how and why progressive era Quakers intervened in U.S. insular policy discourses over the organizing and governance of acquired territories (Puerto Rico and the Philippines), and the struggles for self-determination, and citizenship within the context of an expanding American empire from 1898 to 1917. Last, he is working on a second book Bayard Rustin: The Pragmatic Quaker, 1912 - 1987, that examines how and why Rustin's tacit pragmatic Quaker faith informed his political thought, organizing, and activism in the context of dealing with the various social injustices and inequalities facing working & poor people, and other marginalized groups in the U.S. and abroad during his 50-year public life.
Phone: 607-274-7381
Address: Ithaca College
Politics Department
953 Danby Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
faculty.ithaca.edu/cfigueroa/
Phone: 607-274-7381
Address: Ithaca College
Politics Department
953 Danby Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
faculty.ithaca.edu/cfigueroa/
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government’s dependency on the economic policies of the US federal government. These economic ties between the US and Puerto Rico are reflected in the more recent corrupt politics on the island and the befallen Governor Rosselló, as well as the subsequent politics of succession to power that followed his resignation.
The paper shows the extent to which the Quaker Lake Mohonk Conference (LMC), through what I call its pragmatic Quakerism, structured various political relations with national organizations (secular and religious), elite individuals, U.S. and insular territorial based political parties, social activist groups and other governing institutions who were engaged in shaping U.S. insular territorial policies in the early 20th century. I examine historically and exegetically three interrelated LMC elements: a) its Quaker and pragmatic ideological underpinnings within its rather unique nongovernmental institutional framework, b) its indirect political role in shaping national discourses on U.S. insular policies, and c) the ubiquitous racialism permeating the institution’s internal and external activities. By attending to these three interrelated processes, I contend that the LMC offers a convenient vantage point from which to understand the latent narratives centered on religious beliefs, racial thought and progressive reform politics that together often structured early 20th American political development.
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government’s dependency on the economic policies of the US federal government. These economic ties between the US and Puerto Rico are reflected in the more recent corrupt politics on the island and the befallen Governor Rosselló, as well as the subsequent politics of succession to power that followed his resignation.
The paper shows the extent to which the Quaker Lake Mohonk Conference (LMC), through what I call its pragmatic Quakerism, structured various political relations with national organizations (secular and religious), elite individuals, U.S. and insular territorial based political parties, social activist groups and other governing institutions who were engaged in shaping U.S. insular territorial policies in the early 20th century. I examine historically and exegetically three interrelated LMC elements: a) its Quaker and pragmatic ideological underpinnings within its rather unique nongovernmental institutional framework, b) its indirect political role in shaping national discourses on U.S. insular policies, and c) the ubiquitous racialism permeating the institution’s internal and external activities. By attending to these three interrelated processes, I contend that the LMC offers a convenient vantage point from which to understand the latent narratives centered on religious beliefs, racial thought and progressive reform politics that together often structured early 20th American political development.
Society of Friends, or Quakers, have often engaged in political discourse
and policy debate over war, antislavery, and human rights, yet there has
been little scholarship on Quakers and presidential leadership. H. Larry
Ingle’s new book, Nixon’s First Cover-Up: The Religious Life of a
Quaker President, provides an intriguing account through impeccable
research and even better writing of one of the most enigmatic and
controversial presidents in U.S. history—Richard M. Nixon—and his
underlying Quaker faith. Ingle draws on and challenges Nixon biographers,
who, he argues, misunderstood the impact of religion in Nixon’s
decision-making process, by reinterpreting Nixon’s own published works
and personal and political correspondences. Ingle uniquely focuses on
Nixon’s often ignored, or just completely forgotten, “Quaker heritage,”
which arguably informed his personal character, leadership style, and
broader political life.