Janae Davis
Janae Davis
Dr. Janae Davis specializes in issues surrounding equity and environmentalism and currently applies her expertise at American Rivers as the Southeast Conservation Director. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University, where her dissertation analyzed the ways conservation-development programs in South Africa contributed to further racial inequities. Davis co-founded the Midlands Master Naturalist Association and Clark University's Working Group for Racial Justice and Inclusion. Her favorite river is the Chattooga River, where she discovers something new each time she visits.
Williams, B., Van Sant, L., Moulton, A. A., Davis, J., 2020. Race, Land and Freedom in The SAGE Handbook of Historical Geography, pp. 179-198, SAGE Publishing.
Davis, J., Moulton, A. A., Van Sant, L., Williams, B., 2019. Anthropocene, Capitalocene, … Plantationocene?: A Manifesto for Ecological Justice in an Age of Global Crises, Geography Compass, 13(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12438
Davis, J., 2018. Black faces, black spaces: Rethinking African American underrepresentation in wildland spaces and outdoor recreation, Environment and Planning Nature and Space, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618817480
Burroughs, K., Davis, J., Guo, T., Ojewola, O., Pitt, A. N., Powell, R., Sharp, R. L., Riungu, G., Verbos, R. I. 2016. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve: A Social Science Needs Assessment, George Write Society.
Davis, J., 2015. A Tale of Two Landscapes: Examining Alienation and Non-Visitation Among Local African American Fishers at Congaree National Park [Thesis], University of South Carolina. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3384.0243
Dr. Janae Davis attended North Carolina State University for her undergraduate degree in Sociology. She has master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of South Carolina and Clark University. Her master’s thesis investigated the impact of wilderness management at Congaree National Park on African American fishers and how park management could re-connect fishers to the Congaree River while advancing conservation goals. Dr. Davis’ dissertation at Clark University explored how conservation-development programs in South African low-income and Indigenous communities contribute to further inequities.
During her master’s degree at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Davis worked as a Graduate Research Assistant supporting the Integrated Sciences and Assessments team in the Geography Department with transcription, planning, and implementation of a citizen science program to communicate climate science to decision-makers and the public. This involved the use of NVivo coding software, collaboration, and facilitation of events and workshops to publicize and fundraise for events and programs.
While at Clark University for her doctoral degree, Dr. Davis worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for GEOG14, helping facilitate student learning through classroom activities, teaching weekly lab sessions, and providing students help outside of class on assignment. Along with the instructors, she helped provide assistance to 75 students in the class and led lab sections for classes consisting of 25 or more students. Dr. Davis also served as a Graduate Research Assistant for three years during her degree, supporting initiatives for the Humanitarian Response and Development Lab. As a Research Assistant, she helped develop the U.S. Agency for International Development technical report, supported a desk study project focused on capacity building and resilience, and analyzed interview and survey data. Dr. Davis also Co-Instructed INDND087, partnering with the University’s president to teach about diversity, equity, and inclusion in students’ academic, professional, and personal lives.
In 2019, Dr. Davis joined American Rivers as the Associate Director of Conservation. She was promoted to Director in January 2023, where she oversees programs, partnerships, fundraising, and staff members to advance community health, environmental justice, and ecological conservation. Davis’ work is highly community-driven, as she believes that the most promising solutions will come from community-centered collaboration that also addresses harms including racial injustice, economic inequality, unsustainable practices, and political disenfranchisement.
Dr. Davis is grateful for being mentored by many professionals and community leaders, including Dr. Dorceta Taylor and teachers of the non-human world. They have helped her to understand her purpose and needs. They have taught her to listen, discern, and navigate the unspoken expectations and silent customs of the environmental field and community work. Moreover, she states that they have also helped expand her networks and provided entryways into spaces and places she never knew existed but needed to experience to reach her career goals. She especially appreciates the mentors of color, specifically women of color, who have helped her navigate and find her place in a predominantly white field. Dr. Davis says that as her path evolves, she seeks mentorship from various people, places, and experiences as she believes they all have something to teach. Her current goal is to become a better listener.
Dr. Davis advises young professionals to seek self-understanding as she believes that a deep knowledge of self, including one's passions, goals, turn-offs, strengths, areas for improvement, and self-care needs, is essential to help guide investments of time and energy. Environmental professionals strive to address vast and complex problems such as climate change, racial injustice, and biodiversity loss. Self-knowledge will help you understand your unique role and how to grow and evolve, energize you, and renew your passions over time. For Indigenous and people of color, this is especially important because environmental groups are constantly seeking our guidance, perspectives, or merely our "face." Burnout is a real threat to those collaborating with communities facing environmental injustice. For these reasons, this work can be profoundly taxing and emotional for Indigenous and people of color. Self-knowledge will help you to focus and shift your energy in ways that enable you to thrive as you fulfill your purpose.
Dr. Janae Davis. American Rivers. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://www.americanrivers.org/about/staff/#1700
Dr. Janae Davis. American Rivers [Photo]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://www.americanrivers.org/about/staff/#1700
Janae Davis, Ph.D. LinkedIn. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaedavis/
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Dr. Janae Davis. American Rivers [Photo]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://www.americanrivers.org/about/staff/#1700