about me

I'm Miguel Ángel Chávez, a doctoral candidate in History at Vanderbilt University. I am a both 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 formerly a Dibner Research Fellow of the History of Science at the Huntington Library in 2019-2020. I graduated with my M.A. in History at the University of North Texas in 2015, and my B.A. in History from that same institution in 2011.

In my master’s thesis The Shifting Borders of Egypt, I outlined the intellectual and cultural assumptions of cartographical representations of Egypt in the context of Egypt's military successes under Muhammad Ali, and later Egypt's incorporation into the wider British Empire by 1882. I focused on the Greco-Roman and Biblical references cartographers unconsciously used.

My doctoral research has turned towards the work of British geographers and explorers of the Nile Valley. I seek to understand the rhetoric, strategies, and techniques geographers used to position themselves as scientists. I trace this development from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. By understanding how British geography professionalized, historians may be better able to understand how and why the creation of our contemporary scientific world was born in the exploration of the Nile. 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:

• vanderbilt - profile page

• email - miguel.a.chavez@vanderbilt.edu

• twitter - @_etruscan

• instagram - @_etruscan