Announcement: 22.05.2025 – Hybrid Lecture by Joah McGee: "Narrating Crisis: The Role of Digital Storytelling in Myanmar's Humanitarian Struggle"

22. Mai 2025, 16:00 Uhr, von AAI Webmaster

Foto: Joah McGee | Insight Myanmar Podcast and Better Burma, resized

We kindly invite you to this hybrid (online & in-place) lecture in English language on Thursday, April 22nd, 2025, at 16:00–18:00 h (CEST/MESZ).

Topic:
    "Narrating Crisis: The Role of Digital Storytelling in Myanmar's Humanitarian Struggle"

Speaker:
    Joah McGee

Affiliation:
    Insight Myanmar Podcast, Better Burma

Date/Time:
    May 22^nd, 2025 (Thursday), 16:00 – 18:00 (CEST/MESZ)

Place:
    Asia-Africa-Institute, Universität Hamburg
    Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Flügel Ost ("East Wing"), room O-221
    20146 Hamburg

Language:
    English

Zoom Link:
    https://uni-hamburg.zoom.us/j/64563521222?pwd=OEdSbENCOUV2Ynl5ZUdnNG5mM1pwQT09

Zoom Meeting-ID:
    645 6352 1222

Zoom Passcode:
    hgtlecture

About this lecture:

In the wake of Myanmar's recent earthquake, grassroots aid networks mobilized quickly, delivering critical support long before international assistance arrived. Yet the global public remained largely unaware. This talk explores how Insight Myanmar Podcast and Better Burma have worked to bridge that gap through digital storytelling.

Joah McGee, founder of Insight Myanmar Podcast and Executive Director of Better Burma, shares firsthand experiences from coordinating earthquake relief efforts across conflict zones, while simultaneously producing real-time media content that documented, contextualized, and amplified the voices of those directly affected. Drawing from interviews with Buddhist monks, local medics, and displaced villagers, Joah illustrates how digital narratives not only inform and engage a global audience but also drive funding and policy attention toward otherwise overlooked crises.

In politically sensitive environments like Myanmar, where humanitarian response is tightly interwoven with systemic oppression and censorship, digital platforms play a vital role in lifting stories that would otherwise remain hidden. This lecture highlights how ethical, ground-up digital storytelling can complement traditional relief efforts, strengthen community resilience, and expand international solidarity, even in the face of dictatorship and disaster.

Brief profile:

Joah McGee is the founder of Insight Myanmar Podcast and Better Burma, two intertwined initiatives dedicated to addressing Myanmar's ongoing struggles. Through the podcast, he amplifies the voices of those impacted by conflict and repression, while Better Burma focuses on delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities, uniting advocacy and direct action to drive awareness and meaningful change.

We would like to thank the Hamburg Society for Thai Studies for the cooperation. 

You can also find all this information on our Instagram account and on our flyer.