Benjamin Marquez

Position title: Professor | American Politics

Email: bmarquez@wisc.edu

Phone: (608) 263-2389

Address:
403 North Hall

Affiliated with Chicano/Latino Studies Program

Education:

Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983

M.A. in Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1976

B.A. University of Texas, 1975

Research Interests:

Cause Lawyers, Immigration, Identity, Latinos, Mexican Americans, Philanthropy, Race, Social Movements, Texas, Political Organizing

Biography:

His teaching and research interests are in race, ethnicity, political sociology and American politics. He has published extensively on Latinos and American politics; his research has focused on Mexican American social movement organizations, identity politics and political power. He is the former Director of the University of Wisconsin Chicano/Latino Studies Program. He has conducted research on political organizing in El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Phoenix and several other communities.

He is the author of The Politics of Patronage: Lawyers, Philanthropy and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1967-2000. (University of Texas Press, 2021) Winner of the 2022 Latino Politics Best Book Award. Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association, 2022; Democratizing Texas Politics: Race, Identity, and Mexican American Empowerment, 1945-2002. (University of Texas Press 2014) National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies award winner; Mexican American Organizations and Identity Politics: Choosing Issues Taking Sides. (University of Texas Press, 2003); Winner of the 2004 Best Book Award by the Race, Ethnicity and Politics (REP) Section of the American Political Science Association; LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization. (University of Texas Press, 1993), and Power and Politics in A Chicano Barrio: A Study of Mobilization Efforts and Community Power in South El Paso. (The University Press of America, 1985). His current research project is on contemporary Latino interest groups and advocacy organizations. It is tentatively titled, The Professionals: Latino Advocacy in the Age of Grant Making (book length project).

Courses:

PS 304: The Political Economy of Race in the United States Spring 2023

PS 302: Mexican American Politics Spring 2023

PS 304 The Political Economy of Race in the United States Fall 2020

PS 302 Mexican-American Politics Fall 2019-2020

PS 231 Politics in Multi-Cultural Societies Spring 2018-2019

PS 416 Community Power and Grass Roots Politics Fall 2018-2019

PS 231 Politics in Multi-Cultural Societies Spring 2017-2018

PS 825 Race and Politics in the United States Fall 2017-2018

PS 231 Politics in Multi-Cultural Societies Spring 2016-2017

PS 464 Mexican-American Politics 2016-2017

PS 231 Politics in Multi-Cultural Societies Spring 2015-2016

PS 428 Community Power and Grassroots Politics Fall 2015-2016

PS 422 Latino History and Politics Fall 2015-2016

Awards:

2020

Outstanding Book Award National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Foco Award for Non-Fiction

2018-2019

University Housing Honored Instructor

2018

University Housing Honored Instructor

2013-2014

Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity Faculty Fellow, 2014-15, UW-Madison Institute for Research in the Humanities

2010-2011

Alpha Phi Professor Recognition Award, UW-Madison chapter

Biography, Courses, and Awards