The Vital Acts: Podcast by Izyaan Burney

Send us Fan Mail

This season on The Vital Acts, we're digging into medical orientalism, the idea that medicine has never been neutral about who it's describing. It's the pattern where conditions produced by inequality, poverty, and exclusion get re-described as the essence, the culture, or the nature of the people living in them, dressed up in the borrowed authority of clinical language. But we’re excited for you to join us again. This season, we're opening into deeper, lesser-known topics, like never before, including from my own research! We’re excited to do that with you.

- Izyaan Burney

Send us Fan Mail

In our season finale, we talk with Sarah, an avid theater goer and witness of the emotionally-benefitting qualities of theater! We ask her about her experience with theater, how it's helped her overcome tough times, and the possible avenues in which medicine and theater can cross over in the future! 

Send us Fan Mail

Trauma lives in the body — but what if storytelling could rewrite our relationship with it? In this episode, we explore trauma’s physiological roots and how art becomes a vessel for processing pain, reclaiming memory, and finding release.

Send us Fan Mail

Trauma lives in the body. But what if storytelling could rewrite our relationship with it? We explore trauma’s physiological roots and how art processes pain.

Send us Fan Mail

Why do we freeze in fear? What’s the chemistry of courage? A dive into the body’s ancient survival script and how it mirrors the best drama.

Send us Fan Mail

From theater masks to psychological masks, we explore how people hide, protect, and present themselves. What’s the science behind the “roles” we play daily?

Send us Fan Mail