The Creative Underclass: Youth, Race, and the Gentrifying City (2019, Duke University Press).
Pre-order on Amazon. Request a desk or exam copy with Duke University Press.
“Tyler Denmead offers a far-reaching look into the complexities of creative communities, implicating factors involving labor, economics, race, the arts, education, urban planning, and politics, all while joyfully, lovingly, and thoughtfully describing stories from young peoples’ lives. Denmead describes these multiple perspectives and what young people taught him and his change of perception with humility. His book’s credibility and power are even more compelling because of his capacity to comprehend and critique an institution he himself constructed. I’m in awe of all the intricacies and implications that Denmead has revealed.”
— Rebekah Modrak, author of Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice
“Since the early 2000s we have regarded the creative class as those with the greatest access to capital, technology, and robust economic environments. Tyler Denmead reveals a portion of the creative class that is dynamic and generative and forgotten—low income youth in under-served communities. This is a must-read for reimagining the creative talents of today’s urban youth.”
— Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin–Madison
