PalestinianCRT Counterstories in Education: The Necessity for Pedagogically Engaging Al-Hakawati and  Palestinian Transformational Survivance to Erasure

Bernardita M. Yunis Varas

doi:10.14288/ce.v17i3.187088

PalestinianCRT Counterstories in Education

The Necessity for Pedagogically Engaging Al-Hakawati and Palestinian Transformational Survivance to Erasure

Authors

Bernardita M. Yunis Varas Colorado State University Pueblo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3187-7043

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v17i3.187088

Keywords:

PalestinianCRT, Critical Race Theory, counterstorytelling, survivance, resistance, critical race methodologies, Palestinian erasure, Palestinian liberation in education

Abstract

Centering the counterstories and memory-keeping practices of Palestinians in the diaspora and the homeland, this work operationalizes PalestinianCRT, a framework developed by Yunis and Tanksley (2023), calling for Palestinian al-hakawati in education as a critical praxis. Heeding Martinez’s call (2020), this article makes the case for counterstorytelling in academia as a pedagogical practice of the transformational survivance (Vizenor, 2008) of Palestinians in the face of colonial violence and epistemological erasure. Using counterstories pedagogically, PalestinianCRT challenges the colonial erasure, (re)centering Palestine through a critical, race-conscious, and justice-oriented feminist praxis that is life-affirming and engages anticolonial liberation of Palestinians with fervent hope (Ihmoud, 2022; Joudah, et al, 2021). By engaging counterstories, we historicize the violences we are witnessing in this moment in 2023-2026, naming a history that is actively erased by imperial forces worldwide and challenge the apartheid of knowledge in education that creates false and violent narratives about Palestinians.

Author Biography

Bernardita M. Yunis Varas, Colorado State University Pueblo

Bernardita M. Yunis Varas was born in Viña del Mar, Chile, and has lived in the United States since she was 10 years old, growing up in Miami, Florida. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is currently a lecturer at Colorado State University Pueblo. Her scholarship engages conversations on identity, recovery, performance, Critical Race Theory, and the immigrant, Latinx, and Palestinian experiences. Her work is guided by antiracist values and motivations to constantly work to dismantle violences enacted by colonialism and White supremacy.

Cover image for Critical Education, Volume 17, Issue 3, 2026

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Published

2026-08-17

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 3 (2026)

Section

Palestinian Liberation in Education: Solidarities and Activism for a Free Palestine

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