Elizabeth Chacko
Elizabeth Chacko
Professor of Geography & International Affairs
Global Equity and Social Justice
Contact:
Email:
Elizabeth Chacko
Office Phone:
(202) 994-5328
2036 H St, NW, Room 312
Washington DC 20052
Office Hours
Wednesdays 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Elizabeth Chacko is a Professor of Geography and International Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in geography and an MPH from UCLA, as well as an MA in geography from Miami University. A migration specialist, her research focuses on the flows of people, capital and ideas and their impacts on social, cultural, economic, and urban geographies. She has conducted field work related to migration, transnationalism and urbanization in the United States, India, Ethiopia, and Singapore. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright Commission, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. Her recent publications appeared in the Geographical Review, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Social Studies, FOCUS on Geography, Places Journal and African and Black Diaspora. Dr. Chacko is currently engaged in an NSF-funded research project titled “Geographies of Migration and (In)Security” that investigates migration in the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the US Mexican Border. She is a co-author on a 2023 report issued by the Organization of American States on the role of local authorities in the reception, inclusion and integration of immigrants and refugees in cities across the Americas.
Honors and Awards
Fulbright Scholarship to research the integration of Asian Indians (Singapore natives, naturalized citizens and permanent residents) in Singapore. August, 2013 – January, 2014.
U.S. Professor of the Year from the District of Columbia. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. 2006.
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences’ Award for Excellence in Freshman Advising. 2002.
Racial, national and ethnic identity formation among immigrants
The creation of ethnic spaces by immigrant communities
Linkages between transnationalism and development
South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
GEOG 2000 - Migrants and the City
GEOG 2127 - Population Geography
GEOG 3165 - Geography of South Asia
GEOG 6223 - Population and Health
Books
(Un)settled sojourners in cities: Challenges of “temporariness” among migrants and asylum seekers. 2023. Elizabeth Chacko and Marie Price (Editors). Routledge Publishers: New York.
Migrants' Inclusion in Cities: Innovative Urban Policies and Practices. 2013. Marie Price and Elizabeth Chacko. Published in Spanish by the United Nations through UNESCO and UN-Habitat.
Essentials in World Regional Geography. 2008. Michael Bradshaw, George White, Joseph Dymond and Elizabeth Chacko. McGraw-Hill Publishers.
Contemporary World Regional Geography. 2007. Bradshaw, M., White, G., Dymond, J., Chacko, E. 2nd Ed. Dubuque: McGraw-Hill.
Select Chapters in Books
Chacko, E. and P. Gebre. (2017). Engaging the Ethiopian diaspora: Policies, practices and performance. Chapter 8 in Africa and its Global Diaspora: The Policy and Politics of Emigration. Edited by J. Mangala. Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 219 – 249.
Chacko, E. (2017). Exodus, Circulation and Return: Movements of high-skilled migrants from India in a Transnational Era. In Rethinking Skilled Migration: A Place-based and Spatial Perspective. Edited by Q. Wang and M. van Riemsdijk. Routledge Press. Pp. 211- 225.
Chacko, E. and G. Sojo. (2016). Spaces of integration: International students in a global city. Chapter 22 in Race, Ethnicity and Place in a Changing America, Volume 3. Edited by J. W. Frazier, E. L. Tettey-Fio and N. F. Henry. SUNY Press. Pp. 335-343.
Chacko, E. (2015). Immigrants from the Muslim World: Lebanese and Iranians. In Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America. Edited by C. Airriess. Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 371-390.
Chacko, E and Price, M. (2015) “Immigrant entrepreneurship in the Washington Metropolitan Area: Opportunities and challenges facing ethnic minorities”. Chapter 11 in The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities. Edited by C. Texeira and W. Li. University of Toronto Press. Pp. 302 – 327.
Chacko. E. (2011). “Translocality in Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa: Spaces and linkages of the Ethiopian diaspora in two capital cities”. In Translocal Geographies: Space, Places, Connections’ Edited by A. Datta and K. Brickell. Ashgate Publishers. pp. 163-178.
Chacko, E. and Cheung, I. (2011). The formation of contemporary ethnic enclaves: ‘Little Ethiopia’ in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In Race, Ethnicity and Place in a Changing America. Edited by J.S. Frazier, E. Tettey-Fio and N.F. Henry. Binghamton, New York: Global Academic Publishing. pp. 129-141.
Chacko, E. 2009. “Africans in Washington , D.C: Ethiopian Ethnic Institutions and Immigrant Adjustment” in The Neo-African Diaspora in the United States and Canada at the Dawn of the 21 st Century. Edited by J.W. Frazier, J. T. Darden and N. F. Henry. Global Academic Publishing. Binghamton , NY . Pp.243-256.
Select Journal Articles
Chacko, E. and M. Price. (2020). (Un)Settled sojourners in cities: The scalar and temporal dimensions of migrant precarity. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1731060. Published online April 2, 2020
Chacko, E. (2020). Emerging precarity among international students in Singapore: Experiences, understandings and responses. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020. 1732618. Published online April 2, 2020
Chacko, E. (2019). Fitting in and standing out: Identity and transnationalism among 2nd generation African Immigrants in the United States. African and Black Diaspora. DOI: 10.1080/17528631.2018.1559789
Chacko, E. (2017) Policies and practices of integration: High skilled migrants from India in Singapore. Papers in Applied Geography, Volume 3, Issue 3-4, pp. 262-274.
Chacko, E. (2015) Ethiopian taxicab drivers: Forming an occupational niche in the U.S. Capital. African and Black Diaspora, [Special Issue: Living Across Worlds: Ethiopian Migrants and Diasporas in the Age of Globalization]. Published online September 13, 2015. DOI: 10.1080/17528631.2015.1083177
Chacko, E. (2015) Hybrid sensibilities: Highly skilled Asian Indians negotiating identity in private, semi-private, and public spaces of Washington, DC. Journal of Cultural Geography 32(1): 115-128.
Chacko, E and P. Gebre. (2013). Leveraging the diaspora: lessons from Ethiopia. GeoJournal. 78(3): 495-505.
Chacko, E. and P. Varghese. (2009). Identity and representations of gated communities in Bangalore, India. In Open House International. 34(3): 57-64. Special issue on New meanings of home, migration, and the city: spatial forms and practices in a globalizing world.
Price, M. and E. Chacko (2009). The Mixed Embeddedness of Ethnic Entrepreneurs in a New Immigrant Gateway. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 7(3): 328 – 346.
Chacko, E. (2007). From brain drain to brain gain: reverse migration to Bangalore and Hyderabad, India’s globalizing hightech cities. GeoJournal 68:131-140.
Chacko, E. (2004) Positionality and Praxis: Fieldwork Experiences in Rural India. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 25(1): 51-63.
Chacko, E. (2003). Identity and Assimilation Among Young Ethiopian Immigrants in Metropolitan Washington. The Geographical Review 93(4): 491-506.
Chacko, E. (2003) Ethiopian Ethos and the Creation of Ethnic Places in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Journal of Cultural Geography 20 (2): 21-42.
Ph.D. (UCLA)
National Science Foundation Grant. AY 2022-2025. Grant to study “Geographies of Migration and (In)Security. Awarded $500,000 (With Dr. Sarah Blue, Dr. Jennifer Devine, Dr. Marie Price, Dr. Caroline Miles, and Dr. Carla Angulo Passel).
Social Science Research Council Grant. AY 2020-2022. Co-PI on grant to study “Pandemics and Migrant Precarity: North-South Dialogues”. Awarded $50,000.
National Science Foundation Grant, AY 2013-2014. Grant for ” Collaborative Research: Effects of Check Dams on Landscape and Society - A Catalyzing Visit to the Eco-Sensitive Shiwalik Foot Hills of India”. Awarded $ 29,978 (Co-PI, Dr. Ranbir Kang)
Columbian College Facilitating Fund, GWU. AY 2012-2013. Grant to study entrepreneurship among high-skill Asian Indian immigrants in the Washington metropolitan area. Awarded $10,000. (Co-PI, Dr. Marie Price).
Ford Foundation Grant: 2008-2009. Leadership Institute on Creative Responses to Global Climate Change in Vietnam. The project is a collaboration between ESIA - PISA & SIGUR Center and the Department of Geography. I was an Academic Advisor on this project. Awarded $253,000.
GWU-CIBER. 2008-2009. Funding for project titled “Transnational Washington: Immigrant entrepreneurship and development linkages in a global city. Awarded $14,912. (Co-PI Dr. Marie Price).