For more than a dozen years, Rebecca Webster served as an attorney for the Oneida Nation, at a time when the nation was defending itself against threats to its land and sovereignty.

Her experience working on those lawsuits, combined with a history of the Oneida over centuries and cultural teachings from the Nation, along with the changing policy on tribal land rights is the subject of her new book, In Defense of Sovereignty: Protecting the Oneida Nation’s Inherent Right to Self Determination, published this year from the University of Wisconsin Press.

The book takes us on a historic journey of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, from their arrival to Wisconsin through the federal history of allotment. It also outlines the Oneida Nation’s recent legal battles, the result of attempts by local governments – particularly, the village of Hobart which surrounds the reservation – to regulate the Oneida and repudiate its sovereignty.

Webster joins WORT News Director Chali Pittman on Madison Book Beat for a conversation about this history of the Oneida Nation and a window into their struggles to preserve their land and culture.

Rebecca M. Webster is Associate Professor in the American Indian studies department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where she teaches courses related to tribal administration and governance and is the Director of Graduate Studies for the department.

She was a staff attorney for the Oneida Nation for thirteen years, focusing on government relations, jurisdiction concerns, and a wide variety of tribal land issues. She is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and runs a 10-acre farm on the Oneida reservation