Conversations From The Leading Edge

We are excited to announce our first episode featuring student voices! Thu Thu May Oo and Erina Iwasaki are current graduate students of Teachers College, Columbia University. They discuss their perspectives on the current situation in Myanmar and their involvement with the Myanmar Association at Columbia University (MAC). **This episode was recorded in May 2021. The producer of this episode acknowledges that the situation in Myanmar is continuously changing and there may have been some updates since the time of this recording. ** Bio(s): Thu Thu May Oo is originally from Myanmar and she is a graduate student, pursuing MS in Nutrition Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Previously, she worked as a New Roots Food and Health Intern and a community liaison at International Rescue Committee for the Burmese refugee and immigrant communities in Seattle, Washington. She is also a freelance social and food justice writer. With her new career in nutrition education and dietetics, she hopes to work w

During the difficult times we’ve been living, facing the pandemic, racism, and socioeconomic distress, art rises as a breath of fresh air, at times translating what we have difficulty putting into words, at times, magnifying social and racial issues that can no longer remain overlooked, but always a powerful tool to process reality. In this episode we talk to Marissa Gutiérrez-Vicario, the Founder and Executive Director of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), an organization that helps young people amplify their voices and organize for human rights change in their communities through the arts. We explore the role of art as an educational process, as a social struggle tool, and we talk about how you can begin to explore the creation of art yourself. Learn about their work at https://www.artejustice.org/ On Instagram and Twitter: @artejustice

In the international Covid coverage there’s a tendency for uplifting Global North countries in their efforts of control and solution creation while undermining Global South countries, as places bound to be the scenario of the worst calamities, incapable of responding efficiently to the crisis or where good covid response numbers are something surprising. Narratives are yet another aspect of the Covid-19 crisis that has been shaped by colonialism. In the final episode of this series, we talk about the harm that hegemonic distorted narratives present and dive into the stories that do not get to be in the headlines. Our guests are Bianca Santana, a journalist and writer from Brazil, a participant of Uneafro and the Black Coalition for Rights; and Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, a multimedia journalist from Liberia and the Executive Director and Editor of the Local Voices Liberia Media network. ****** GREAT NEWS ****** Why Rwanda Is Doing Better Than Ohio When It Comes To Controlling COVID-19: NPR https://www.npr.org/s

Humanitarian efforts were and still are dominated by donors and organizations based in the United States and Europe. However, these efforts are frequently targeted at low and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, often without taking into account the perspectives and expertise of affected persons. This system replicates colonial structures and power dynamics and is reflected in the Covid-19 response as well. In this episode, we will tackle the intersection of colonialism, COVID-19, and the need for greater support for localized responses, with an example from the city of Mogadishu in Somalia. We talk to Dr. Hodan Ali, Director of the Durable Solutions Unit, a local government body that responds to humanitarian needs. She is also the co-founder of the Refuge Hamilton Centre for Newcomer Health in Ontario Canada. For more information on the DSU: - This is their website: https://dsu.so/ - Follow them on twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUBenadir - Take a look at their strategical plan