University at Buffalo Humanities Institute

09/11/2026

Juan González will be joining for the full festival day on Saturday, following his Friday night talk. 🗞️

🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 We are excited to announce that Juan González will be joining for the Saturday opening roundtable on “The Value of Local Journalism” on Sept. 26, 10:00 a.m. at the Central Library. Register today to join us for this free, public event. Link in bio to register.

09/08/2026

🚨 New HI Research Workshop alert: Climate Futures.

09/04/2026

This is the final weekend of the Medina Triennial. Former HI Faculty Fellow Matt Kenyon is one of the many talented exhibiting artists included in this inaugural site-specific art triennial less than one hour away by car.

09/04/2026

Today! 4pm in the cinema at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.

Friday, Sept. 4 | 4 p.m. | Scholars@Hallwalls: Lacey Carpenter
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Ave.)

Join us for the inaugural Scholars@Hallwalls talk of the 2026-27 season! Complimentary beverages and light fare are served for a brief, pre-talk mingling session. 

Strong Foundations: A Deep History of Zapotec Oaxaca through Residential Architecture
In this talk, Carpenter takes a deep history perspective spanning 3,000 years in Oaxaca. The focus of this work is the house, its design, and construction. This expansive approach allows for the identification of moments of rupture and change and contextualize contact and conquest in relation to major developments in Oaxaca’s past. In this eventful history, the Spanish conquest can be more accurately assessed as a historical process. Carpenter evaluates this history from an archaeological and household perspective. This analysis demonstrates that all major socio-political developments in the Valley of Oaxaca coincided with significant changes to the construction techniques and floorplans of houses except the Spanish Conquest. This continuity was likely linked to the importance of the house and its maintenance as a way to continue to demonstrate land and house ownership.

Lacey Carpenter is an anthropological archaeologist studying daily life during a time of political transformation in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. More broadly, she is interested in examining households as political spaces where ordinary people participated in and reacted to major changes during a time of urbanization and political conflict in the region. Carpenter works closely with the community in the contemporary town of San Martín Tilcajete where archaeologists and artisans collaborate to find new ways to celebrate Zapotec cultural traditions and innovations. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Northwestern University (2010) and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (2019). She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology.

09/03/2026

Join us for this year’s Buffalo Humanities Festival, Sept. 25-26 featuring spotlight speaker journalist Juan González and closing out with Buffalo News editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis.

Breaking? Or is it already broken? With seismic forces at work radically and rapidly altering the shifting media ecosystem, how do we—as ordinary citizens in extraordinary times—decipher what is ha…

08/31/2026

Reminder: This Friday Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center!

Friday, Sept. 4 | 4 p.m. | Scholars@Hallwalls: Lacey Carpenter
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Ave.)

Join us for the inaugural Scholars@Hallwalls talk of the 2026-27 season! Complimentary beverages and light fare are served for a brief, pre-talk mingling session. 

Strong Foundations: A Deep History of Zapotec Oaxaca through Residential Architecture
In this talk, Carpenter takes a deep history perspective spanning 3,000 years in Oaxaca. The focus of this work is the house, its design, and construction. This expansive approach allows for the identification of moments of rupture and change and contextualize contact and conquest in relation to major developments in Oaxaca’s past. In this eventful history, the Spanish conquest can be more accurately assessed as a historical process. Carpenter evaluates this history from an archaeological and household perspective. This analysis demonstrates that all major socio-political developments in the Valley of Oaxaca coincided with significant changes to the construction techniques and floorplans of houses except the Spanish Conquest. This continuity was likely linked to the importance of the house and its maintenance as a way to continue to demonstrate land and house ownership.

Lacey Carpenter is an anthropological archaeologist studying daily life during a time of political transformation in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. More broadly, she is interested in examining households as political spaces where ordinary people participated in and reacted to major changes during a time of urbanization and political conflict in the region. Carpenter works closely with the community in the contemporary town of San Martín Tilcajete where archaeologists and artisans collaborate to find new ways to celebrate Zapotec cultural traditions and innovations. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Northwestern University (2010) and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (2019). She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology.

08/30/2026

2026 / BREAKING NEWS - Check out this year’s presenters + participants for the full festival day on Sat., Sept. 26 at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library - Central Library

https://buffalohumanities.org/2026-breaking-news/presenters-panelists/

Graphic design by Montague Projects

08/26/2026

Friday, Sept. 4 | 4 p.m. | Scholars@Hallwalls: Lacey Carpenter
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Ave.)

Join us for the inaugural Scholars@Hallwalls talk of the 2026-27 season! Complimentary beverages and light fare are served for a brief, pre-talk mingling session. 

Strong Foundations: A Deep History of Zapotec Oaxaca through Residential Architecture
In this talk, Carpenter takes a deep history perspective spanning 3,000 years in Oaxaca. The focus of this work is the house, its design, and construction. This expansive approach allows for the identification of moments of rupture and change and contextualize contact and conquest in relation to major developments in Oaxaca’s past. In this eventful history, the Spanish conquest can be more accurately assessed as a historical process. Carpenter evaluates this history from an archaeological and household perspective. This analysis demonstrates that all major socio-political developments in the Valley of Oaxaca coincided with significant changes to the construction techniques and floorplans of houses except the Spanish Conquest. This continuity was likely linked to the importance of the house and its maintenance as a way to continue to demonstrate land and house ownership.

Lacey Carpenter is an anthropological archaeologist studying daily life during a time of political transformation in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. More broadly, she is interested in examining households as political spaces where ordinary people participated in and reacted to major changes during a time of urbanization and political conflict in the region. Carpenter works closely with the community in the contemporary town of San Martín Tilcajete where archaeologists and artisans collaborate to find new ways to celebrate Zapotec cultural traditions and innovations. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Northwestern University (2010) and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (2019). She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology.

07/30/2026

Congratulations to former HI Faculty Fellow Kellen Hoxworth!

07/16/2026

Announcing the 2026 Buffalo Humanities Festival: BREAKING NEWS

Save-the-Dates: Sept. 25-26

Spotlight Speaker: Juan González of Democracy Now!

Join us at the Central Library for an evening with Juan González on Friday, Sept. 25 followed on Saturday with a full day of talks, panel discussions, activities, and conversations. The festival will close with a conversation with Buffalo News editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis.

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

On this 716 day, please consider supporting the Buffalo Humanities Festival as a free event with a donation. Link to donate in comments.

About Juan González

Juan González has emerged over the past 50 years as a nationally known Latino journalist, social activist, author, and public intellectual. He was a staff columnist for New York’s Daily News from 1987 to 2016 and has been a co-host since 1996 of Democracy Now, a daily morning news show that airs on more than 1,500 community and public radio and television stations across the US and Latin America.

His investigative reports on urban policy, race relations, the labor movement and Latin America have garnered numerous accolades, including two George Polk Awards for commentary, and in 2015 he became the first Latino to be inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists New York Journalism Hall of Fame.

Before he entered journalism, González was a well-known 1960s activist, as a key figure of the Columbia University student revolt of 1968, and later as a leader of the militant Puerto Rican group the Young Lords, and of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights.