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 Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 18-19.

The Native American Cultural Center and MSU Student Affairs have partnered with Sodexo at Minot State to host an Indigenous Dinner on Monday, Nov. 18, from 5-7 p.m. at the Student Center Conference Center.

On Tuesday, Nov. 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 hosted by 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 by 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 American/Indigenous people have history; we are not in history,” said Annette Mennem, director of MSU’s Native American Center. “Indigenous people are thriving today using ancestral teachings, including eating a decolonized diet.”

The Indigenous Dinner is free and open to the campus and community. To sign up for the event, contact the Native American Cultural Center.

Vukelich’s talk is free and open to the public. He will present the traditional teachings of the Anishinaabeg as a means of developing 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.