A History and Future of Native Sovereignty: Controversies and Perspectives

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Montana State University, formerly MSU Wonderlust, is collaborating with the Bozeman Public Library’s One Book One Bozeman program to present a talk on “A History and Future of Native Sovereignty: Controversies and Perspectives” at a Feb. 12 Friday Forum. The event will be presented online via Webex from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Alex Harmon, an assistant professor of English and American Studies at Montana State University, will explore issues of federal Indian law, including the policy of termination, the Native communities it has affected and the erosion of tribal sovereignty. She will also address the current crisis surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Harmon will offer perspectives on the “The Night Watchman,” its National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich and Erdrich’s place in contemporary American Literature. “The Night Watchman” is the 2021 One Book One Bozeman selection. Published in 2020, the novel is based on the extraordinary life of Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C.

Harmon’s scholarly and teaching interests include contemporary Native American literature and film, federal Indian law, and ethnic and critical race theory. Advance registration is required. For more information or to register, please visit the OLLI at MSU website at montana.edu/olli/register. Upon registration confirmation, participants will receive an email with the Webex link and instructions to join the program.

Friday Forums are offered on the second Friday of each month September through May and are a partnership between the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at MSU and the Bozeman Public Library Foundation. OLLI at MSU is a program of Academic Technology and Outreach (ATO) at Montana State University. ATO works across MSU to support and advance our land-grant mission through unique and innovative opportunities for outreach and engagement.