Institute for
Mesoamerican Studies
The Institute for Mesoamerican Studies (IMS) is a non-profit educational research institute dedicated to the study and dissemination of knowledge concerning the peoples and cultures of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Northern Central America). IMS serves to organize and coordinate the work of the Mesoamericanist faculty at the State University of New York at Albany. We have the largest number of full-time Mesoamericanists of any institution north of Mexico, and our members are among the most active and prominent scholars in the field of Mesoamerican anthropology. The primary activities of IMS are research and publication. Read more about our history and how to contact us on our About Us page
IMS is pleased to present
Friday, April 21st, 2023 at 16:30: Fine Arts 126 Guest Lecture by John Millhauser
(North Carolina State University) “Poverty, Power, and Prehistory in Mesoamerica: Insights from the Basin of Mexico”
Past events include
Spring 2021
March 4th, 4:00 pm, Facebook Live: Guest Lecture by Dr. David M. Carballo (Boston University) "Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain"
Spring 2020
March 6th, 3:00-4:30 pm, Fine Arts 126: Guest Lecture by Dr. Casper Jacobsen (University at Albany-SUNY) "An Inmaterial World? Culture, Religion, and Five Centuries of Indigenous Dispossession"
Fecbruary 14, 3:00-4:30 pm, Fine Arts 126: Guest Lecture by Carol-Rose Little ( Cornell University) "Absolutive objects in Mayan and Beyond"
Fall 2019
October 18, 4:00-5:30 pm, Fine Arts 126: IMS Board Member lecture by Dr. Robert M. Rosenswig(University at Albany, SUNY) "The Rise and Fall of the Izapa Kingdom"
Spring 2019
May 10-12, Northeast Nahuatl Conference. Alumni House, University at Albany-SUNY.
March 8, 3:30-5:30 pm, Fine Arts 126: " Alfarería yucunchana: Traditional pottery-making in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca". A film by Dr. Pérez Rodríguez (University at Albany, SUNY)
Fall 2018
November 16, 3:30 pm, FA126: Guest lecture by Santiago Juarez (Colgate University) "Archaeology at the Frontiers: The Preclassic Site of Noh K’uh".
Spring 2018
April 28, 3:00 pm, FA126: IMS Board Member lecture by Dr. Joanna Dreby (University at Albany, SUNY) "Social Class and Children's Food Practices in Mexican Migrant Households"
April 23, 3-8pm, Campus Center Ballroom: Day of Triqui Culture, with Triquis Sin Fronteras and the University at Albany Student Association.
Spring 2017
March 10, 3pm, FA 126: Guest lecture by Dr. Verenice Heredia Espinoza (El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C.) "The Segmentary State Model and its Application to the Teuchitlán Tradition of Jalisco, México"
February 24, 3pm, FA 126: Guest lecture by Dr. Scott AnderBois (Brown University) "Yucatec Maya Discourse Particles and the Structure of Speech Arts"
Fall 2016
October 28: Guest lecture by Dr. Amy Frappier (Skidmore College) "Mud and the Maya 'Megadroughts': Two Millennia of Environmental Context from Northern Yucatán Stalagmite Records of Hydroclimate and Compound Extreme Events"
October 7: IMS Board Member lecture by Dr. Jennifer Burrell (University at Albany, SUNY) "Todos Somos Seguridad: Municipal Governance, Security and Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Guatemala"
Spring 2016
February 26: Guest lecture by Dr. Peter Rohloff (Wuqu' Kawoq| Maya Health Alliance in Guatemala & Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston), "'Agile Health': Using Teamwork and Grassroots Organizing to Build a Different Kind of Healthcare in Maya Guatemala"
Fall 2015
September 25th: Guest lecture by Dr. Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos (Yale University), "Cotzumalhuapa: The Archaeology of Urbanism in Pacific Guatemala"
November 13: Guest lecture by Dr. Louise Burkhart (University at Albany, SUNY), "Pictography and Memory in Seventeenth-Century Atzaqualco, Mexico"
Spring 2015
February 25th: Guest lecture by Luz Rivera (Mexico's National Urban and Peasant Council) "Maíz y el País: Political Violence in Mexico and Corn's Lessons for Justice."
April 12: Day of Triqui Culture. The occasion recognized San Juan Copala Triquis' distinct cultural contributions to the Albany area.
April 19th: Symposium on Triqui Transnational Migration Experiences: Health, Labor, & Language
May 1st: Mesoamerican Codices at the University at Albany – a Comprehensive Collection
Fall 2014
September 28th: Guest lecture by Bernardo Ramirez Rios (Skidmore College) "Basketball and Community: Sporting Migrants in Oaxaca, Mexico and Los Angeles, California"
November 7th: Guest lecture by Christian DiCanio (Haskins Laboratories and University at Buffalo, SUNY) "The Sounds of Triqui: Quantitative Approaches to Language Description and its Ramifications for Historical Change."
Spring 2014 - videos are available on our Youtube channel
February 28th: Guest lecture by Jeanne Simonelly (Wake Forest University) "Zapatistas: Twenty Years of Building Community".
April 11th : Guest lecture by Doug Kenett (Penn State University) "Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change".
April 11th: Guest lecture by Leigh Binford (College of Staten Island) "Human Rights and Transitional Justice in El Mozote Massacre"
April 12: Day of Triqui Culture. The occasion recognized San Juan Copala Triquis' distinct cultural contributions to the Albany area, with the presentation traditional foods, a dance performance, and handicrafts. Dr. Aaron Broadwell, Triqui language consultant, Román López, and their students highlighted their research, especially a massive Copala Triqui-Spanish-English audiovisual dictionary (http://copalatriqui.webonary.org/).
The Times Union article "Keeping a language alive" ca be accessed here. Make sure to take a look at our Triqui textiles page!
Fall 2013
Guest lecture by Anthony Aveni (Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology), "Calendrics, Astronomy, and Math at the "Xultun Institute of Advanced Study."
November 8th: Guest lecture by Marilyn Masson (University at Albany, SUNY & IMS) and Bradley Russell (Saint Rose College, IMS, National Geographic), "Anthropogenic, Economic, and Sacred Landscape Studies at Mayapan, Summer 2013."
Other Events
The Department of Anthropology, University at Albany also hosts lecture series:
- NutMeg: The Northeast Mesoamerican Epigrapy Group; contact John Justeson for more information.
- Archaeology Institute of America Lecture Series (contact John Justeson for more information).
- The Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities sponsors events and activities throughout the year.
