Amira is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin where she specializes in 20th Century American History with an emphasis on race, gender, sports, and politics. Amira provides sports commentary for media outlets including NPR, CNN, and BBC. She has written, produced, and featured in multiple ESPN projects, including authoring and narrating the digital essay, Title IX- The Fight Continues, for which she won a Silver Clio Award. Amira serves on the advisory board of the Jackie Robinson Museum and the Arthur Ashe Legacy Foundation and co-chairs the American Studies Association’s Sports Studies Caucus. She is the co-host of the Burn it All Down podcast and was the host of Season 3 of American Prodigies: The Rise of Black Girls in Gymnastics.
Recently named a Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, she is finishing up her book, Can’t Eat a Medal: The Lives and Labors of Black Women Athletes in the Age of Jim Crow (UNC Press). Amira is the co-author of the children's book, Go Wilma, Go! (Bloomsbury Press) with Micheal Long. She has published articles in The Journal of African American History, American Quarterly, Radical History Review, and Modern American History, as well as other journals and edited collections, and has bylines in the Washington Post. The New Republic, L.A. Times, and Slate, among others. With Joseph Darda, Davis co-edited the 2023 special issue of American Quarterly, titled The Body Issue: Sports and the Politics of Embodiment.
Favorite sports memory?
Oh this question is so difficult for me! Recently it is a tie between watching Serena’s last matches at the U.S. Open and watching my little cousin win a national championship with LSU in 2023, which was especially meaningful knowing her journey to get to that point and because it was a watershed moment for women’s college basketball and the vibes in the sold out American Airlines Arena were wild.
Your global sports Mount Rushmore:
Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Messi.
Which world leader would you put in goal?
I can’t think of a world leader that I trust to save things *awkward emoji face*
Which athlete would you want to be world leader?
Sebastian Vettel
Best rivalry:
Red River Rivalry (I am not even being biased! It is being played for the 120th time this year, and since 1932 it is held on a neutral site (Fair Park) but also #HookEm)
A sign that the world of sport is shrinking:
I am not sure how the world of sport is exactly shrinking but I do think technology has made sport more interconnected. I am thinking of the growth of one of my favorite sports, Formula One, and how Netflix’s docuseries really brought new visibility to the sport. Now I see lots of partnerships or activations across sport- for example the Spurs are doing a partnership with Alpine for the US Grand Prix.
Where would the Great Game Lab find the quintessence of global sport?
I think that youth sports are still an incredibly important space that holds the key to both sports reform and the reminder of that quintessence of sport. Although I do think that youth sports are becoming more inaccessible and feeding into these larger exploitative sporting systems earlier, it's paramount to include those sporting spaces in our discussion of sports.
Question you'd most want to ask other fellows?
How has your study of sport changed or influenced the way you consume sports as a fan?