Black Studies and creative autoethnography offer ways for us to not only express ourselves and to be self-reflexive, but they also allow us to transform, liberate, educate, and resist oppression, ultimately helping us find ways to imagine new futures. Black studies and creative autoethnography can help us resist systems of oppression, promote healing and understanding, and offer ways for us to build connections and develop a better understanding of the world we live in. Dr. Katie Dieter is the associate director of African and African American Studies at Stanford University. Prior to this role, she was a senior lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and was adjunct faculty at the University of the West Indies, Mona, both located in Kingston, Jamaica. With a Ph.D. and M.A. in African American and African Diaspora Studies, a M.A. in Gender Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in African and African American Studies and Studio Art , Katie’s research focuses on the ways the visual and performing arts can be used as methods of knowledge production and resistance. Katie is also an artist and includes intersectional themes in her artwork. In a recent chapter included in Fire Under My Feet: History, Race, and Agency in African Diaspora Dance, she analyzes choreography of Indiana University’s African American Dance Company using a creative auto-ethnographic approach to reimagine dance through her own paintings. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx