Sha'Mira Covington

College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors

Assistant Professor in Fashion

Dr. Sha'Mira Covington is a scholar-artist with interests in Africana studies within the fashion-industrial complex. Her research agenda makes the case for increased dialogue between the visual, sensory, and material-based methods of Black liberation.

Education

Degree Field of Study Institution Graduation
Ph.D. Polymer, Fiber, and Textile Sciences- International Merchandising emphasis, African American Studies The University of Georgia 2023
M.S. Communications- Public Relations Syracuse University 2018
B.S. Fashion Merchandising, Art History The University of Georgia 2011

Research

My research explores fashion and dress as cultural, historical, social, and political processes involved in and affected by histories of colonial domination, anti-colonial resistance, and processes of decolonization. 

Awards

Award Name Awarded By Year Awarded
Campus Sustainability Grant UGA Office of Sustainability 2021
SEC Emerging Scholar Southeastern Conference 2021
Graduate Research Award Willson Center for Humanities and Art 2021
Graduate Education Advancement Board Fellowship UGA Graduate School 2020
Myron G. Burney Service Award The Black Faculty & Staff Organization 2019
New Approaches Grant for Diversity and Inclusion UGA Office of Institutional Diversity 2019

Service

Organization Title Year(s) Service Type
International Textile and Apparel Association Member Current
Association of Black Women Historians Member Current
Costume Society of America, Southeastern Region Member Current
Black Women Studies Association Member Current
National Black Council of Black Studies Member Current

Hobbies and Passions

Embodiment artist: Yoga and pole dance 

Current Research

I am currently interested in the myriad of ways that Black women have used embodied modes as liberatory praxis. 

My other research interests include:

  • Black material culture and museums
  • Racial representation within the fashion-industrial complex
  • Ecofeminism/ecowomanism and fashion sustainability
  • Blackness and media
  • Afro-Indigenous studies
  • Dance performance, politics, and identity
  • Black political/protest dress and efficacy
  • Fashion and aesthetics as political tools
  • Social justice pedagogy in fashion studies
  • Contemplative pedagogy
  • Race and decolonization pedagogy
  • Critical analysis of corporate social responsibility

I am open to working with students and colleagues on interdisciplinary and adjacent projects to these areas.  

Journal Articles

Weigle, B., & Covington, S. (2022) The Role of Clothing and Textiles in Defining ‘Family’, a Study of the Narratives from the Former Slave Project. Fashion Studies. https://www.fashionstudies.ca/the-role-of-clothing-and-textiles-in-defining-family

Reed, J., Covington, S., & Medvedev, K. 2022. "Creating Room for Social Justice Pedagogy in Fashion Education". Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. 

Covington, S., Medine, C. 2022. “Africana Yogi Personae: Black Yoga Practitioners’ Aesthetic Negotiations in Dress”. The Arrow: A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture, and Politics. 

Covington, S. 2022. “The Narrative Bodies of James Baldwin: A Discussion of Sartorial and Literary Style". Religions

Covington, S., Medvedev, K. 2019. “Dressing for Freedom and Justice”. Clothing Cultures, 6(2), 215-235.

Working Papers

Covington, S., Medvedev, K. “Woke” Brands?: An Analysis of Racial Consciousness and the Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Fashion-Industrial Complex. [CTRJ].

Covington, S. “Decentering and Decolonizing Fashion”. [Edited textbook chapter for Meanings of Dress].

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