The Buffalo Humanities Festival returns September 18-19 with two afternoons of in-person talks at Silo City–under the open-air Willow Trellis and in the semi-open air Design Studio.

New for 2021, we welcome Daemen College as a Buffalo Humanities Festival partner!

Let’s imagine better, more equitable, life-affirming futures—together.

Schedule Overview

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Saturday, Sept. 18

12:30pm | Check-in/Registration opens

1:00pm-1:15pm | Welcome
[Location: Design Studio]

1:15pm-2:15pm | New York Utopias: Past, Present and Future
[Location: Design Studio]

  • Jennifer H. Dorsey, Professor of History, Siena College
  • Victoria W. Wolcott, Professor of History, University at Buffalo

2:15pm-2:30pm | Break

2:30pm-3:30pm | Ritual and Place: Towards a Utopian Policy
[Location: Design Studio]

  • Lisa K. Parshall, Professor of Political Science, Daemen College and Public Policy Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government
  • Dan Shanahan, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurism and Program Director, Daemen College/co-founder and Artistic Director, Torn Space Theater

3:30pm-3:45pm | Break

3:45pm-4:45pm | The Power of Fiction
[Location: Willow Trellis]

  • Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Associate Professor of English, University at Buffalo
  • David Castillo, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, University at Buffalo
  • Laura Marris, Writer and Translator
  • Christina Milletti, Associate Professor of English, University at Buffalo

4:45pm-5:00pm | Break

5:00pm-6:00pm | Walt Whitman’s Beloved Community: the Calamus Project
[Location: Willow Trellis]

  • Sam Magavern, Senior Policy Fellow, Partnership for the Public Good
  • Brian Brown, Ujima Theatre
  • Brandon Williamson, Ujima Theatre

Sunday, Sept. 19

12:30pm | Check-in/Registration opens

1:00pm-1:15pm | Welcome
[Location: Design Studio]

1:15pm-2:15pm | Impossible Project: the Truly Inclusive Classroom. A Student of Color Perspective
[Location: Willow Trellis]

  • Dalia Antonia Caraballo Muller, Associate Professor of History, University at Buffalo/founder of the Impossible Project
  • Alexis Harrell, Junior, University at Buffalo
  • Stephie Ikama, Senior, University at Buffalo
  • Suhana Monsalve, Junior, University at Buffalo

2:15pm-2:30pm | Break

2:30pm-3:30pm | The Search for (N)Everland: Migration, Utopia/Dystopia
[Location: Design Studio]

  • Anita Butera, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Canisius College
  • Secil Ertorer, Associate Professor of Sociology, Canisius College
  • Richard D. Reitsma, Associate Professor of Spanish, Canisius College

3:30pm-3:45pm | Break

3:45pm-4:45pm | Spirits of Feminism: Raising Radicals from the Dead in Lilydale, NY
[Location: Design Studio]

  • Averill Earls, Assistant Professor of History, Mercyhurst University and Executive Producer of Dig: A History Podcast
  • Elizabeth Garner Masarik, Assistant Professor of History, SUNY Brockport and Producer of Dig: A History Podcast
  • Marissa C. Rhodes, Post-Doctoral Fellow at Arizona State University and Producer of Dig: A History Podcast