about me

c’est moi 😄

I'm Miguel Ángel Chávez, an Assistant Professor of History at Cumberland University. Previously, I was a doctoral candidate in History at Vanderbilt University. I was formerly the J. Léon Helguera Fellow at Vanderbilt’s History Department, as well as a William J. Vaughn Fellow at the Robert Penn Warren Center. I was a Dibner Research Fellow of the History of Science at the Huntington Library in 2019-2020.

In my dissertation, Professionalizing Science: British Geography, Africa, and the Exploration of the Nile (2023), I sought to understand the rhetoric, strategies, and techniques geographers used to position themselves as scientists, tracing this development from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century.

For more information, please take a look at my research page: Link.

Outside of academia, I am an avid political junkie, a fan of modern art and design, and a sci-fi geek. As a Chicano, I care deeply about issues affecting my community so this blog may, from time to time, veer away from history to contemporary politics.

prolegomena is my personal website/blog, a place where I can expand on my research, and where I can comment upon the happenings of the world. 

If you have any questions or comments, you can find me in the following places: