René Alexander Orquiza, Jr., Ph.D.

As a history professor at Providence College, I answer questions about the present by telling stories about the past. 

My first book Taste of Control: Food and the Filipino Colonial Mentality Under American Rule examines how American colonizers tried to change the way Filipinos ate, cooked, and thought about their food. I argue the debate over Filipino cuisine inspired both champions of American imperial power and defenders of Philippine culinary tradition. The Fulbright Program, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the W.M. Keck Foundation supported my research.

I am currently working on a project that explores the relationship between the United States and the Philippines before 1898. Most studies consider the Spanish American War as the beginning of American interest in the Philippines. I argue that a desire for a trade base in the Pacific and a push to compete for empire in Southeast Asia inspired American merchants and commercial interests before the Civil War.  

I have contributed to pieces published by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and the BBC, as well as a History Channel documentary on the life of Walt Disney. I am the recipient of 2025-2026 Joseph R. Accinno Award Faculty Teaching Award at Providence College. 

I live in Needham, Massachusetts with my wife and two daughters.