For the whole year of 2008 the Native American community in Minnesota has been slighted, ignored, and insulted by the events planned in honor of the Sesquitennial. Left out of most events planned by city and state organizations, some members of the Native community have come up with their own response to the "celebration", which will culminate in a day long series of events on Dec. 5. The Ancient Traders Gallery, the Form+Content Gallery, and the University of Minnesota have collaborated on a program of exhibitions, symposium, an artist panel, and an exhibition that examine notions of statehood, sovereignty, memory and homeland. The coordinated series of events will take place with free shuttle bus service between venues. Events include:

RETHINKING STATEHOOD: Sovereignty, Memory, and Citizenship. A Symposium and Artist Panel will take place at the University of Minnesota. Panelists will discuss the historical, cultural, and political relationships between the American Indian sovereign governments and the United States. Organized by the Department of American Indian Studies, the day includes a line up of speakers:

• 10:00 am: Brenda Child and Erik Redix, "Rethinking the Sandy Lake Tragedy: Ethnic Cleansing in the Minnesota Territory?"
• 10:30 am: Jean O’Brien, "State Recognition and Termination in Nineteenth Century Southern New England."
• 11:00

  am: Brian Klopotek (from the Departments of Ethnic Studies and

  Anthropology, University of Oregon), "Other Perspectives on White

• Supemacy in Jena, Louisiana: The Jena Band of Choctaws, State Politics and Federal Policy."
• 2:00 pm: David Chang, "Statehood, Land Allotment, and the Fictions of Liberalism in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation."
• 2:30

  pm: Noenoe Silva (Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii

  at Manoa), "What 50 Years of Statehood has meant for Kanaka Maoli."

• 3:30 pm: Comment by David Wilkins.
• 4:00 pm: Artist Panel with Mona Smith and Joseph Allen. Moderated by Patricia Marroquin-Norby.

The

Symposium will take place at the University of Minnesota Institute or

Advances Study, 131 Nolte Center, Room 140, 315 Pillsbury Drive E,

Minneapolis.

"States, Dates and Place" at Ancient

Traders Gallery: The art xhibit features a group exhibit of work by

Indigenous artists in the ontext of Minnesota’s Sesquicentennial.

Artists include Gordon Coons, im Denomie, Andrea Carlson, Cat Whipple,

and Gaby Tateyuskanskan, mong others. here will be an opening reception

from 6-9 p.m. Ancient Traders

Gallery, 1113 E. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis.

"Mnisota Dakota Home" at

the Form + Content Gallery: A two-person xhibition of photography and

video installation that examines the ncestral home of videographer Mona

Smith and photographer Joseph llen. Smith’s multimedia installation,

Dakota Voices, Dakota Places, ocuses on the connection Dakota people

have to Mnisota. The nstallation includes nature sounds, Dakota

language, English anguage, and video. Dakota people speak about their

homeland and heir relationship to Bdote (the confluence of the

Minnesota and the ississippi rivers).

Photographer Joseph Allen

displays the latest color photographs from is Dakota landscape series.

Departing from the standard toolset of he documentary photographer,

Allen chooses an inexpensive toy camera o photograph Dakota sites. The

Holga medium-format camera has one hutter speed and one aperture

setting. The cheap plastic lens distorts the image and the camera is

also susceptible to light leaks. Despite these shortcomings, or maybe

because of them, Allen’s

large-scale color photos impart a very intimate perspective of each site.

Reception

from 6-9:00 pm. Dakota fare of Wojapi and Wasna will be erved. Form +

Content Gallery, Whitney Square Building, 210 North 2ndtreet, Suite

104, Minneapolis. A shuttle bus will run between the two exhibit

receptions.)

Support for the Form+Content Gallery exhibition and the

artist panel is being provided by the Institute for Advanced Study, the

Scholarly Events Fund, the Space and Place Collaborative, and the

Scholarly Events Fund, University of Minnesota. The MNdn 150: Beyond

Statehood was organized and supported by Brenda Child and Sonja

Kuftinec, both from the University of Minnesota; Heid Erdrich, from

Ancient Traders Gallery; Leah Golberstein and Christine Baeumler,

Form+Content members; and artists Joe Allen and Mona Smith. For more

info, contact the University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study,

University of Minnesota at 612-654-2921.