Edward Said (1979) addresses the relationship between inaccurate cultural representation of the Arab world and imperialist notions of superiority. Scholars contend the stories of Palestinian women are misrepresented by those in power within and outside of the culture (Peteet, 2017, Richter-Devroe, 2018). These pervasive norms present Palestinian women as, “passive victims of ‘cultural’ oppression and ignore their strong and continuous participation in social and political struggles.” (Richter-Devroe, p. 77)The purpose of this session is to explore how Palestinian women use music to express, protest, and celebrate their identities through music. This presentation is divided in two parts with contrasting narrative styles. In Part One, the presenter uses Evocative Autoethnography (Bochner & Ellis, 2016) to illuminate their experiences traveling to Palestine where they met five women musicians, spanning three generations. The presenter uses a first-person lens intentionally as a shift from theorizing stories (thinking about) to immersion and engagement (thinking with). In doing so, the audience is in “dialogue with ourselves as we expose our vulnerabilities, conflicts, choices, and values (Bochner & Ellis, p. 71).”In Part Two, the presenter uses Narrative Case Studies (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006; Clandinin, 2006) to center participants’ voice. The stories are organized into four central themes: education, identity, activism, dreams and reality. Listening to the stories of Palestinians is inherently political because in doing so, we acknowledge a voice, culture, and place that is contested and shielded from the mainstream media. Bruner (2004) addresses the tension between individual stories and larger canonical narratives. Noting, this form of inquiry provides an opportunity for sense-making - how the individual comes to see, tell, and understand themselves.The participants’ stories are three dimensional and offer a view of human experience through the lens of: sociality, temporality, and place (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006). The presenter will offer examples of how Palestine women use music to express, protest, and celebrate their identities. Their individual and collective stories challenge dominant assumptions about Palestinians and women in the Middle East, thus disrupting norms that are rooted in settler-colonialist and imperialist narratives. In the discussion portion, the presenter will offer summary questions and reflections of how these stories might open us to new possibilities as citizens, scholars, and music educators.