OxBHR Network Series: Discussion with Dr. Tina Davis

The OxBHR Network Series is pleased to welcome Dr. Tina Davis who will be presenting her new book, co-edited by Lawrence Edward Carter and Jodi L. Henderson, on 'Slavery and Its Consequences: Racism, Inequity and Exclusion in the USA'.

The anthology tells rich narratives about how slavery and racial injustice, as well as the resistance to it has shaped United States over centuries to become what modern America is today. Through various lenses, the book explores and celebrates Black American History as it is woven into the cultural and social structures of the country. Across centuries of change, the book ties together the invaluable influence this history has had on civil rights, politics, activism, scholarship, community building, leadership, sport, poetry, music, literature, publishing, the church, photography and more as part of the resistance and the struggle for freedom.

The book was initiated in 2020 during the pandemic as a response to the racial injustice and police brutality that led to the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others. The Journal of Modern Slavery shared its platform with a guest editor and contributors who could address slavery and its consequences with authority and lived experience. The result is a collection of well-researched and thought-provoking articles, essays, dialogues, poetry and photographs that offer a deeper understanding of USA today.

Dr. Tina Davis is a human rights scholar and practitioner who currently is a researcher and special advisor with the Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Peace, and an Assistant Editor of the Journal of Modern Slavery. Her research area is on migration and labour exploitation in supply chains in the Global North, and she is currently doing research on recruitment and exploitation of migrant workers in the Norwegian food industry, and on remedy in the Nordic countries.

In 2020 and 2021, Tina was part of a working group with UN University’s Centre for Policy Research (Delta 8.7 platform) that developed a global policy guide to address human trafficking and modern slavery in crisis situations. She was part of core advocacy groups in Australia and Norway who were instrumental in getting the Australian Modern Slavery Act passed in 2018, and then the human rights due diligence law (Transparency Act) passed in Norway in 2021. She advised the Norwegian government on the proposal for the Transparency Act. In 2019, she did a global mapping and advised the Norwegian government on their international development program to end modern slavery.

Tina holds a doctorate degree in Sociology and Social Policy from University of Sydney, and a BA (HONS) in Media from University of Westminster. She is an inductee of the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Sponsors at Morehouse College in Atlanta, USA. Beyond research and policy work, Tina is an award-winning documentary-maker who has directed the film 'Modern Slavery' featured on Netflix. She is currently authoring a book on human trafficking, and co-editing anthologies on Dalit scholarship, child labour, and Volume 2 of Slavery and Its Consequences.