Abstract
This session is part six of an eight part series running through the 2017-2018 academic year titled Encountering Religious and Cultural Traditions: A Series Fostering Religious Literacy and Interreligious Understanding. In this session, Bob Klanderud will teach about the lived experience of the Dakota worldview as well as address some common misconceptions and stereotypes people have about the tradition.
Renowned scholar of religion Wilfred Cantwell Smith argued that in order to “understand Buddhists, we must not look at something called Buddhism but at the world so far as possible through Buddhist eyes.” Likewise, in order to understand Judaism, Hinduism, and so on, we must not look at Judaism, Hinduism and so on, but at the worldviews of Jews, Hindus, and so on. In his New York Times Bestseller, Religious Literacy, Stephen Prothero writes “I am convinced that one needs to know something about the world’s religions in order to be truly educated,” and argues that “you need religious literacy in order to be an effective citizen.” This year-long series aims to foster religious literacy and interreligious understanding by examining the world through the eyes of religious scholars and practitioners from various traditions. They will share their own lived experiences of their traditions and also address common stereotypes and misconceptions.
Robert "Bob" A. Klanderud, of Dakota and Lakota heritage, is enrolled with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in Minnesota. With Healing Minnesota Stories, a project that works towards understanding and healing between Native American and non-Native people, Bob volunteers as a teacher by guiding groups to the sacred sites of Bdote, the place where Wakpa Tanka (Mississippi River) and Mnisota Wakpa (Minnesota River) come together. Central to Dakota origin stories, Bdote is understood to be the center of the earth and the place where the Dakota people trace their beginning to. Bob served for eight years for the Division of Indian Work and Minneapolis Council of Churches as a case worker in the Fathers Program, Strengthening Family Circles program, and mentorship program for incarcerated men. He also served for eight years in the chaplaincy program of the department of corrections for Hennepin, Stearns, Steele, and Anoka counties.
This program is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Justice and Peace Studies Department, the American Culture and Difference Program, and Students for Justice and Peace, all at the University of St. Thomas. To make an accessibility request, call Disability Resources at (651) 962-6315