Native American Cultural Celebration set for Minot State, open to public

Minot State University Native American Cultural Center, the MSU Diversity Council, MSU Student Affairs and Sodexo at MSU have collaborated to host events during the university’s Native American Cultural Celebration on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 18-19.

The Native American Cultural Center and MSU Student Affairs are partnering with Sodexo at Minot State to host an Indigenous Dinner in the Student Center Conference Center on Monday, November 18 from 5 to 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, November 19, MSU will host author and speaker James Vukelich at 10 a.m. in the Hartnett Hall Collaboration Space, and he will lead a book discussion in the Gordon B. Olson Library at 2 p.m.

The Indigenous Dinner is the third annual event with the meal prepared by Sodexo chef Amanda O’Dell and staff. The event will also feature music from duet soul band Blood Quantum, featuring Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians citizens, Amari LaRocque and Clay LaRocque. Blood Quantum will play original music and covers during the dinner.

“Native Americans/indigenous people have a history; we are not in history,” said Annette Mennem, director of MSU’s Native American Center. “Indigenous people thrive today using ancestral teachings, including eating a decolonized diet.”

The Indigenous Dinner is free and open to the campus and community. Contact the Native American Cultural Center to register for the event.

Vukelich’s lecture is free and public. He will present the traditional teachings of the Anishinaabeg as a means to develop interconnectedness and interdependence. The Seven Grandfather Teachings, the sacred law of the Anishinaabeg, show us how to lead “Mino-bimaadiziwin,” “the good life”, a life without contradiction or conflict, a life of peace and balance.