Dr. Chaney is a cultural geographer who specializes in immigrant and refugee populations in the American South. His scholarly interests include ethnic geography, Latin America, transnational approaches to migration scholarship, and human trafficking. His recent research projects have explored the sense of place and reactive ethnicity of Tennessee's Latinx population.  He is currently working on a project that examines the ethnocultural idenity of Karen refugees living in the Nashville metropolitan area. 

Dr. Chaney is an advocate for community engagement.  Before coming to MTSU, he was an associate director of a nonprofit organization that worked to empower Latin American immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Dr. Chaney has also served on the Board of Directors for Free For Life International, an anti-trafficking organization based in Nashville, Tennessee.  During his tenure with Free For Life International, Dr. Chaney co-led several of their trafficking prevention programs in Latin America and the United States.

« Read Less

Books:

Sluyter, A., C. Watkins, J. Chaney, & A. Gibson. Hispanic and Latino New Orleans: Immigration and Identity since the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge. Louisiana State University Press 2015.

Articles:

Chaney, J. 2022. An Emerging Reactive Ethnicity Among Latinxs in Tennessee. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies 9(2): 1-19.

Chaney, J., & L. Clark 2020. We’re From Here, Too: Identity and Belonging among 1.5- and Second-Generation Latinxs in Nashville, Tennessee. The Latin Americanist 64(3): 280-304.

Chaney, J., A. Mohamed, & S. Williams. 2018. Somali Refugee Resettlement and Residential Patterns in Nashville, Tennessee. Southeastern Geographer 58(1): 80-103.

Chaney, J. A Glance at New Orleans’ Contemporary Hispanic and Latino Communities. American Association of Geographer Newsletter (October 2017)

Gibson, A., C. Watkins, J. Chaney, & A. Sluyter. 2017. Vínculos Históricos entre Nueva Orleans, Luisiana y Cuba. Revista Universidad de la Habana 283: 44-58.

Chaney, J. 2015. Forging New Paths: Examining the Transnational Social Networks behind Latino Migration in the American South. Southwestern Geographer 18: 22-37.

DeLyser, D., and A. E. Potter, with J. Chaney, S. Crider, I. Debnam, G. Hanks, C. D. Hotard, E. A. Modlin, M. Pfeiffer, & J. Seemann 2013. Teaching qualitative methods using group-based interviews and coding assignments. Journal of Geography 112(1): 18-28.

Chaney, J. 2012. Malleable Identities: Placing the Garínagu in New Orleans. Journal of Latin American Geography 11(2): 121-144.

Chaney, J. 2010. The Formation of a Hispanic Enclave in Nashville, Tennessee. Southeastern Geographer 50(1): 17-38.

Book Chapters: 

Chaney, J. (forthcoming 2023) “Mexico and Migration.” In Modern Global Migration: An Encyclopedia of People on the Move. ed. Cynthia Pope. Santa Barbara: ABC­-CLIO, Inc. 

Chaney, J. 2023. “This Isn’t What I Expected in Cuba”: Challenging the Imaginative Geographies of Students through Study Abroad. In Intercultural Engagement in Short-Term Faculty-Led Study Abroad Programs Across Disciplines. eds. P. Ananth and J. Seok Jeng Lim. Murfreesboro: MTSU Publishing.

Book Reviews:

Chaney J. 2023. Latino Orlando: Suburban Transformation and Racial Conflict. by Simone Delerme. Southeastern Geographer. 63(4).  

Chaney, J. 2019. Telling Migrant Stories: Latin American Diaspora in Documentary Film. by Esteban E. Loustaunau, and Lauren E. Shaw (eds) The Latin Americanist. 63(3).

Chaney, J. 2017. Review of Corazón de Dixie: Mexicanos in the U.S. South since 1910. by Julie Weise. Journal of Latin American Geography. 16(3): 169-172.

Chaney, J. 2014. Review of Nashville in the New Millennium: Immigrant Settlement, Urban Transformation, and Social Belonging. by Jamie Winders. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 2(2): 7-10.

Editorials, Commentaries, and Editorships:

Chaney, J. “Education abroad: Destination Cuba” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN) April 8, 2016.

« Read Less

"Human Trafficking in Latin America" (Webinar) Advancing Humans Rights, Religious Freedom, and Social Justice.  Human Rights Media October 30, 2020. 

"Exploring housing options and challenges with Melbourne's African migrants," (Webinar) Hallmark Research Initiative’s Affordable Housing 2020 Seminar Series. University of Melbourne September 22, 2020.

“Human Trafficking Big Issue Facing Mid-State” (Interview) WGNS News Radio. Murfreesboro, TN. July 17, 2017.

“Planning a Trip to Cuba? Here is What an MTSU Professor Says About Cuba...” (Interview) WGNS News Radio. Murfreesboro, TN. March 22, 2016.

“MTSU’s ‘On the Record’ studies Latinos’ influence on New Orleans culture” (Interview) WMOT Public Radio. Murfreesboro, TN. March 7, 2016.

"A Story About The Garifuna" (Subject-Matter Expert) Documentary by Ben Peterson, Department of Communications, Brigham Young University 2012.

« Read Less

Undergraduate Courses:

GEOG 2000 Regional Geography
Global Studies 2010 Cross-Cultural Experiences
GEOG 2105 Introduction to Latin American Studies (Cultural Geography Focus)
Global Studies 3010 Field Experience and Study Abroad
Global Studies 3040 Contemporary Migration: Global Trends, Local Implications (EXL course)
GEOG 3120 Geography of Tennessee and the South
Global Studies 3200 Special Problems and Topics
GEOG 3420 Latin America in the 21st Century
GEOG 3430 Geographical Approach to Contemporary Europe
Global Studies 4000 Human Trafficking
GEOG 4360 Cultural Geography (EXL course)
GEOG 4540 Geography of Indigenous Peoples
GEOG 4370 Urban Geography

Graduate Courses/Seminars:

GEOG 5360 Cultural Geography (Applied Geography)
GEOG 5470 Rural Settlement
GEOG 5430 Geography of Europe
MALA 6010 Foundations in Liberal Arts: Community
MALA 6040 Forced Mobilities: A Spatial Perspective of Human Trafficking.
MALA 6050 Migration
PS 6550 - International Affairs III: Professional Skills and Methods

Education Abroad Programs:

Organizer/Leader of MTSU's Discover Spain education abroad program
Organizer/Leader of MTSU’s Exploring Mexico (Oaxaca) education abroad program
Organizer/Leader of MTSU’s Explore the Yucatán education abroad program
Co-organizer/Leader of MTSU’s Cuba in the 21st Century education abroad program

« Read Less