Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J.

Assistant Professor of Government
Age: 43
Hometown: Santa Carlos, Calif.
Education: B.A. Stanford University, International Relations; M.A. Fordham University, Philosophical Resources; M. Div. Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Theology; Ph.D. Stanford University, Political Science
Areas of research: Politics of labor and social welfare policy, particularly in Latin America
Time at Georgetown: 5 years
Courses Taught: “Comparative Political Systems,” “The Politics of Social Protection and the Welfare State,” “Politics of Inequality,” “States and Societies in Latin America,” “Welfare States in Transition,” “Comparative Political Economy”

How did you come to narrow your focus of research to the politics of labor and social welfare policy and Latin America?
Like a lot of Georgetown students, the experience was a direct one first. In high school, I went to do some service work in Ecuador one summer and in Paraguay another summer, and I saw the really clear inequalities. One moment when it crystallized was being in Paraguay and being in a village that had no electricity, but being within sight of the lights on top of the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam at the time. It was reinforced when in college I studied abroad in Chile and in Mexico City, and as a Jesuit I’ve worked in Latin America a lot, so each time it kept refining the questions. In a particular way, in 1999/2000 I worked in Honduras after a hurricane had hit, and I saw tons of people left out from work, they’d lost their jobs. And the banana companies that had previously been there decided not to come back. I was wondering, what politics lead to better dealing with these issues? That’s how I kept sharpening it through the years.

What do you think is the greatest challenge in your field today?
I think it’s really about how do we combine the best research methodologies — now we’re so able to get really good data on different outcomes that we can start to test very fine hypotheses, but keeping that in the context of bigger questions that really matter to us. Because sometimes you can get really good data about a question that’s really not that interesting or you can formulate a really interesting question but not have the data. Can we keep the big, inspiring, important questions in front of us while we do the really important legwork on the ground?

What is one of the most memorable encounters you’ve had with a student?
As I get older, I find I take great delight in seeing my students succeed. Whether that’s finding out that they got into the doctoral program of their choice, or got into the teaching program they wanted to do, that to me is really something I find really delightful. It all comes down to these interactions where students get to do the thing they really dream to do.

How do you find that your experience as a Jesuit affects your classroom?
I think there’s a certain reflectiveness that I both appreciate hearing in students and that I try to bring to the process. The whole thing about cura personalis really comes out there, both caring about individual students and wanting to see them do well in every dimension — intellectually, socially, spiritually. More and more, I find I really want to model some of that and let them in a little more to some of my own journey and be able to help them make their journeys. As Jesuits, we have a profound respect for what’s happening these years as students are, to use a Jesuit word, discerning what they’re going to do with their lives, who they’re going to become. I love seeing that happen.

Do you ever find that students approach your class differently because you’re a Jesuit?
Yes and no. They sometimes come in thinking there will be more of a religious focus, and that’s never going to be something I’ll turn my back on in class, but I would say my class is as much political science as any political science class as you’re going to get on this campus. But I do think they know there will be a little bit of an extra dash of this reflectiveness, of this question about justice, this question about what are we called to do with what we learn. We learn theories, we learn methodologies, we learn a ton about the world, but then having all of that, what do we do with it? You can only answer that question if you have some sense of understanding your own values, who you’d like to become and I try to at least keep that question floating throughout. I think that’s one reason students would like to take a class with me.

What’s something you wish more students would take away from your courses?
It’s not just from my courses, but it’s really from Georgetown. I’ve said this many times. I would love students to just stop for a minute. Just stop in the middle of Healy Lawn, stop in the middle of Dahlgren Quad, stop in their dorm room, stop wherever they are for a second and just take a moment to reflect to be aware of where they are and what they’re doing. When we do that, we’re actually able to better choose how we want to do things. We professors give you too much to read, so stop and figure out which of these things you most want to give your time to, which of these are you really going to let your heart be drawn into and which ones are you going to do maybe a little less on, but you’re really going to focus on that one important thing. Stop and realize that I’m in this beautiful space, and I want to make sure I’m thankful for being in this place. Or stop and realize that there are some other people I’ve been looking to meet, looking to share what I have with them, and it’s not just about me on the Hilltop. Georgetown students are so good and so talented and so proficient at doing so many things that they often don’t stop to reflect on which of these do I really like best.

What would be your ideal course to teach? 
In some ways, CPS, I’ve designed it so it really is my ideal course. I love it in the sense that we get to ask questions about variation in life around the world, especially in political life. That takes us out of our small world where we have a limited vision of how things are in the United States and shows us a lot of different ways of solving these basic problems of human life and human society. I love it because when we look at that variation we often can see or reflect on how would we like the world to be. I love teaching it because I get to work with students as they think critically and as they think about what’s going to matter in their lives. One thing I love about it is that it’s a shared experience. I think a dream as a professor is the idea that we help lead students in a conversation that continues outside the classroom, and that can only happen if you have enough students, a critical mass. It’s a delight when I walk into Yates and see the book from my class and know they’re thinking about that right now. Or a student will come in and say, “I was talking to my roommate about this thing that came up in class.” Part of what happens here that’s so formative is having those ongoing conversations, so if I can shoot out a few ideas that then lead to those ongoing conversations, then that’s terrific.

Interview by Emma Hinchliffe