Learning as Resistance: Afghan Girls Navigating Taliban Education Bans through Underground and Digital Spaces

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonial Voices and Educational Futures Across Borders

Abstract

This conceptual paper explores how Afghan girls resist Taliban-imposed education bans through underground learning and digital education platforms. Drawing on feminist theory and postcolonial perspectives, it situates informal education as a form of political resistance and survival. The paper examines how community networks, digital tools, and international organizations sustain education when formal schooling is denied.Rather than presenting empirical findings, it analyzes existing literature, public reports, and documented experiences to frame learning in crisis zones as an intentional act of agency. This work calls for global recognition of informal education efforts and urges the development of accreditation pathways that validate learning in emergency contexts, especially for marginalized girls in conflict zones like Afghanistan.

Author

• Marzhan Ayabekova, University of Massachusetts - Lowell