Palestinian parkour in Gaza as embodied decolonial praxis and land-based physical activity under occupation

As a physical culture, parkour sits at the intersection of spatial resistance and physical self-discipline, requiring one to disobey rules of urban space while simultaneously enacting control over one's own body. Across the occupied Gaza Strip, multi-generational parkour groups have become popular amidst the backdrop of restricted personal freedoms and physical cultural opportunities. Since 7 October 2023, escalating genocide, structural violence, and humanitarian crises in Gaza have halted many aspects, practices, and aspirations of everyday life, including sports. We analyzed the resilience of Gaza-based parkour groups as embodied decolonial praxis for Palestinians of all genders and across (dis)ability living under ever-changing conditions of life in Gaza. Using the theoretical framework of Sumūd, a Palestinian decolonial epistemology, and a netnographic methodology, we posit parkour as an embodied decolonial praxis, cultivating an emotional reclamation of land and community resurgence. This project also highlights difficulties in gathering data during the period between October 2023-August 2024 due to the disruptions in internet networks, media archives, and parkour spaces. Nevertheless, through parkour, Palestinians challenge settler-colonial spatialities and temporalities through constructing their own time/space continuums, cultivating land-based relationships, committing to psychosomatic self-discipline, refusing debilitation, and embracing joy.