Rutger Ceballos’s research explores the relationship between American political development, African American politics, and American political thought, focusing on the contestation over labor and land regimes in the context of the Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction. His current book project, Managing Emancipation: Land, Labor, and the Reconstruction of the American Racial Capitalist State, examines how complex interactions between federal officials and newly emancipated Black workers reshaped the American federal state and restructured racialized labor and land regimes.
In addition to his work on Emancipation and Reconstruction, Rutger has worked on the history of labor organizing in the Pacific Northwest, left-wing political movements in the early 20th century, and the political thought of Frederick Douglass.
Rutger received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington, an M.A. in the History of Political Thought from Queen Mary, University of London, and his B.A. in Political Science, International Studies, and History from the University of Washington. Before working in academia, Rutger worked as a union organizer and labor activist in the Pacific Northwest.
