Who's Behind This...
Counter-Cite is made by Kayla Richards (Oglala Tituwan Oceti Sakowin), a PhD candidate in Social Work at the University of Minnesota and the founder of Indigenous Visibility Facilitation & Strategy, LLC. The idea started — like a lot of good ideas — as a frustrated scroll through Etsy. There was researcher swag. There was Native-made swag. There was almost nothing in between, for the growing number of us doing both at once.
So this is a small line for a specific people. Designs are written, curated, and sometimes illustrated by Kayla. When a piece draws on visual or cultural elements from a specific nation, it's commissioned from an artist of that nation and credited by name.
In conversation with
Counter-Cite is in conversation with — and indebted to — Black scholars, makers, and brands who have been making a parallel argument in their own register. Indigenous rigor and Black rigor are not in competition; the academy would like us to think they are.