The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Montana State University, formerly MSU Wonderlust, will collaborate with the Bozeman Public Library’s One Book One Bozeman program to host a Friday Forum titled “A History and Future of Native Sovereignty: Controversies and Perspectives.” The talk, which will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, is free and open to the public. The selection for this year’s One Book One Bozeman event is “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich.  

The forum will be presented by Alex Harmon, an assistant professor of English and American studies in the College of Letters and Science at MSU. Harmon will explore issues of federal Indian law, including the federal policy of termination and the erosion of tribal sovereignty. She will also address the current crisis surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Harmon will also offer perspective on “The Night Watchman,” its National Book Award-winning author Erdrich and Erdrich’s place in contemporary American literature. Published in 2020, “The Night Watchman” is based on the life of Erdrich’s grandfather, who worked as a night watchman at a factory in North Dakota and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota 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. 

Registration is required for the presentation and can be found 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 at MSU and the Bozeman Public Library Foundation. OLLI at MSU is a program of Academic Technology and Outreach at MSU. ATO works across the university to support and advance its land-grant mission through unique and innovative opportunities for outreach and engagement.