Exploring Religious Questions

Aerial view of Gustavus Adolphus College

Monday Oct 12, 2026

07:00 pm ~ 09:00 pm

Heritage Banquet Room

Audience

Public

Overview

Gustavus Adolphus College was founded in 1862 during the same months as the Dakota-U.S. War, which resulted in the removal of Dakota people from their homeland. Learn about the Dakota War and a two-year grant project that has brought together faculty, students, staff, Dakota leaders, and other community partners for a series of listening sessions and critical conversations about the college's presence on Dakota lands, its settler history, and its relationship with Dakota people today.

Speakers:

Dr. Ursula Lindqvist: Thorstensson, McKnight, Nordstrom Endowed Chair; Professor of Scandinavian Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College; and director of a college-wide grant entitled “Storytelling and Sensemaking at a Settler Institution: Walking a Shared Path with Dakota Neighbors,” funded by the Council for Independent Colleges and the Lilly Endowment.
John Kellen: Executive Director of the Grand Center for Arts & Culture in New Ulm as well as a photographer, documentary filmmaker, and arts leader whose current work has focused on Minnesota’s Dakota history, Indigenous communities, and reconciliation.

This event is one in a series of four lectures on "Beyond Land Acknowledgments: Toward Relationship, Healing, and Justice."

ABOUT THE SERIES

While a growing number of institutions now acknowledge that they are located on Indigenous lands, an acknowledgment is only a beginning. How might we move beyond words toward deeper understanding, authentic relationships, and a commitment to healing and justice?

This four-part series explores how church-related organizations, colleges, and universities in Minnesota are seeking to address this question. Speakers will share how their institutions are working to deepen their understanding of the histories, cultures, and ongoing experiences of Indigenous Peoples while also examining their own institutional histories, practices, and relationships with Indigenous communities today.

Participants will learn about efforts to move beyond land acknowledgments, what institutions are learning through this work, and what challenges they continue to encounter. Whether you are new to these conversations or have been engaged in them for years, the series offers opportunities to listen, learn, and consider how to become more engaged—here or abroad—in policies, practices, and relationships that respect, honor, and advance justice for Indigenous Peoples.

DATES: October 12, 19, and 26 and November 2

TIME: 7–9 p.m.

PLACE: Jackson Campus Center at Gustavus Adolphus College (Heritage Room, Three Crowns Room)

Join us for one or all four sessions!

These lectures are open to the public and co-hosted by the Office of the Chaplains and Professor Marcia J. Bunge. For more information about all four lectures or to register for the entire series, please contact Jodi Maas, Assistant Director of the Office of the Chaplains at Gustavus. Phone: 507-933-7001. Email: church-relations [at] gustavus.edu (church-relations[at]gustavus[dot]edu).