Virtual Exchange as Resistance: Sumud Pedagogy and Epistemic Sustainability in Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt)

This chapter reports on the experience of students in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) involved in virtual exchanges during the ongoing Nakba and the genocide in Gaza (United Nations, 2024). Given the severe restrictions and repression in the oPt, students in this conflict zone have few opportunities for international engagement or for their voices to be heard. This study explores the role of VE as a means for testimony and resistance (sumud), and its potential as a humanising pedagogy for students in conflict-affected regions. Adopting a theoretical framework based on the concepts of epistemic and existential sustainability (E2 sustainability) and sumud pedagogy, the research draws on qualitative data from student interviews in two VE collaborations. The chapter explores the students’ experience of VE, challenging traditional educational boundaries and power dynamics, and the extent to which VE enabled epistemic justice and sumud.