4th MIT Global Humanities Forum on “Recovering Agency through Visual Arts amid Political Uncertainty and Exile” on August 28 (online)

Dear colleagues, students, and friends,

Join us for the 2026 GHI 4th Forum, rescheduled to August 28! This session introduces the GHI Pillar Heritage, Memory & Identity, and its project: Relocating Agency amid Political Uncertainty and Exile

4th GHI Forum

• Title: Recovering Agency through Visual Arts amid Political Uncertainty and Exile
• Date: August 28, 2026
• Where: Online (Zoom Registration LINK) 
• Speakers: Alicia Stevens, Bart Was Not Here (a.k.a. Kyaw Moe Khine), Nathalie Johnston, Maung Day, Sana Aiyar

【Abstract】

The Heritage, Memory, and Identity pillar of MIT’s Global Humanities investigates how the legacies of the past continue to structure contemporary societies and future imaginaries. It views heritage not as a static collection of monuments, but as a dynamic process of meaning construction through which communities negotiate belonging, power, and identity. By engaging with the political, ethical, and creative dimensions of memory, the pillar seeks to illuminate how cultural legacies can both reproduce inequities and inspire new forms of resilience and repair. Our ongoing project demonstrates this approach. Relocating Agency amid Political Uncertainty and Exile brings  Burmese visual artists that are dealing with exile and uncertainty into dialogue with MIT and international audiences through workshops, exhibitions, and publications that explore art as a form of soft power and political survival amid displacement and authoritarian repression. By reconnecting forgotten exchanges across regions and epochs, this initiative models how critical heritage studies can bridge past injustice with the ethical imagination of more equitable futures.  

Looking forward to seeing you at our events!

The MIT Global Humanities Team 

MIT Global Humanities (GHI) is a MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) Faculty-Driven Initiative