This talk from Kyle T. Mays explores the meaning and importance of Indigenous creatives using expressive culture in the fight for Indigenous autonomy and sovereignty. Using contemporary examples of Indigenous Hip Hop, or what he calls "Indigenous Creative Critique," this talk argues for the possibilities created by Indigenous artists in their quest to bring awareness to urban dispossession and erasure within U.S. society.

Kyle T. Mays (he/his) Kyle T. is an Afro-Indigenous scholar of Afro-Indigenous history, urban studies and contemporary popular culture. He is an associate professor in the departments of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA. He is the author of City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (Beacon Press 2021), and Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America (SUNY Press, 2018).

This event is part of the Migrations initiative's summer institute, co-sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.