Teaching in Exile: Embodied Pedagogies of Displaced Academics for Peace and Justice

• In Event: Responses to Pedagogical Impediments in Unforgetting History

Abstract

This study explores how exiled academics use their lived experiences of displacement to shape peace education in higher education. Drawing on interviews, classroom observation, and autoethnographic reflection, the research examines the pedagogical practices of two displaced professors teaching in Western institutions after experiencing political repression. Using frameworks of epistemic injustice, embodied knowledge, and critical pedagogy, the study shows how these educators create emotionally safe, critically engaged classrooms while navigating institutional barriers. Their teaching reintroduces suppressed histories into academic discourse and fosters student dialogue on war, identity, and justice. The findings highlight the transformative role of displaced educators in unforgetting histories and imagining more inclusive futures, offering new insights into the ethical and political dimensions of peace education.

Author

• Anastasia Lavrenyuk, University of Maryland