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Papers by Kenny Fasching-Varner

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2015

Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage f... more Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage for the examination of racism in teacher education, within the United States of America, using critical race theory (CRT) as an analytical tool. The setting of these chronicles is during a time when postracial rhetoric in the United States was at its highest—just after the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. The three friends take the readers on a journey through their graduate experience in teacher education and into their first faculty position in teacher education. Their experiences, as students and junior faculty, are akin to what many faculty and students of color and their White allies experience daily in teacher education programs across the United States. The analysis of their chronicle, using CRT, reveals that postracial discourse has disguised racism and racial microaggression in teacher education. Racial microaggres-sion is as pernicious as other forms of racism and, throu...

Multicultural Perspectives, 2018

This article explores how love informed by thinking and feeling within the context of a unique an... more This article explores how love informed by thinking and feeling within the context of a unique and cutting edge study abroad professional development program in Concepción Chile for preservice teachers might serve as an antidote to the challenges that engaging in culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) present. The article draws upon rich qualitative data, along with some descriptive statistical information, from a longitudinal study of this program to highlight the potential for a love-informed thinking-feeling pedagogy. Through sharing stakeholder participant data, the authors examine how the experience of being othered, particularly in a study abroad context, may provide an opportunity for preservice teachers to better understand students from diverse backgrounds and may offer lessons while doing this work that might be applied to a variety of contexts. The authors also provide a framework drawing upon the ideas that communication matters, challenging is important, intensive 360-degree processing and support facilitates growth, and service-learning teaches to chart out pathways for educators interested in change beyond study abroad programs.

Choice Reviews Online, 2013

White educators comprise between 85-92% of the current teaching force in the United States, yet i... more White educators comprise between 85-92% of the current teaching force in the United States, yet in the race toward leaving no child behind, contemporary educational research often invests significant time and energy looking for ways to reach students who represent difference without examining the nature of those who do the work of educating the nation’s public school children. Educational research that has looked at racial identity is often void of earnest discussion of the identity of the teachers, how that identity impacts teacher beliefs about students and families, and ultimately how teachers frame their understanding of the profession. This book takes readers on a journey to explore the nature of pre-service teachers’ narratives as a means of better understanding racial identity and the way teachers enter the profession. Through a case study analysis approach, Examining White Racial Identity and Profession with Pre-service Teachers examines the nature of white racial identity as seen through the narratives of nine pre-service teachers as well as his own struggles with racial identity. This text draws on racial identity, Critical Race theory, and discourse and narrative analysis to reveal how participants in the study used discourse structures to present beliefs about race and their own understandings and ultimately how the teachers’ narratives display underdeveloped understandings of their choices to become educators. Fasching-Varner also critically examines his own racial identity auto-ethnographically, and ultimately proposes a new, non-developmental model for thinking about white racial identity. This text aims to help teacher educators and teachers to work against the privileges of whiteness so as to better engage students in culturally relevant ways.

Journal of Pan African Studies, Nov 1, 2014

Racism is a multilevel and multidimensional system whereby minority groups are oppressed and scap... more Racism is a multilevel and multidimensional system whereby minority groups are oppressed and scapegoated by the dominant group. Claims that America has become a post-racial society notwithstanding, manifestations of racism are all around us, especially in the state of Louisiana. Louisiana is home to some of the poorest, and the least educated citizens in the nation. The state is also the site of one of the country's most notorious prisons. Angola, a former-and present penal-plantation, is a majority black prison where the inmate 'rodeo' provides annual entertainment for largely white audiences and hundreds of thousands of dollars to supplement services for prisoners that could arguably be paid for in less dehumanizing ways. White racial frame is a useful paradigm for understanding the linkages between mass incarceration, the exploitation of the Black body, the miseducation of Black youth, as well as the persistent racial economic inequality in Louisiana and in US society as a whole. We extend the idea of white racial frame further by introducing a concept we call "bridges to benefits". Bridges to benefits are networks of white privilege, which flow between institutions, such as education, the economy, and the law, which involve capitalizing on the misery of Blacks while simultaneously protecting white supremacy.

Racial Battle Fatigue is described as the physical and psychological toll taken due to constant a... more Racial Battle Fatigue is described as the physical and psychological toll taken due to constant and unceasing discrimination, microagressions, and stereotype threat. The literature notes that individuals who work in environments with chronic exposure to discrimination and microaggressions are more likely to suffer from forms of generalized anxiety manifested by both physical and emotional symptoms. This edited volume looks at RBF from the perspectives of graduate students, middle level academics, and chief diversity officers at major institutions of learning. RBF takes up William A. Smith’s idea and extends it as a means of understanding how the “academy” or higher education operates. Through microagressions, stereotype threat, underfunding and defunding of initiatives/offices, expansive commitments to diversity related strategic plans with restrictive power and action, and departmental climates of exclusivity and inequity; diversity workers (faculty, staff, and administration of co...

Equity & Excellence in Education, 2014

Constructing Knowledge, 2013

The framing of this volume has centered on the notion of unhooking from Whiteness as a mechanism ... more The framing of this volume has centered on the notion of unhooking from Whiteness as a mechanism to dismantle racism. For many scholars of color, being hooked by Whiteness has represented not only a well-researched problematic of race (Fasching-Varner, 2009), but being hooked by Whiteness has assigned a particular property value to Whiteness and Blackness determined by the White majority (Harris, 1995; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Dixson & Rousseau, 2006; Fasching-Varner, 2009).

Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications

This chapter describes the project of developing online multicultural and bilingual teacher educa... more This chapter describes the project of developing online multicultural and bilingual teacher educational curricula in a manner that encourages particular intellectual and behavioral learning outcomes for teacher education students. The pedagogical process by which these outcomes are achieved, facilitation of e-dialogue, acts as the project’s management approach. The goal of the project is the development of transformational respect for and among all learners (both teacher education students as well as their largely public school PK-12 students), and sustenance of faculty (both teacher education and PK-12) hope and possibility through progressive e-education; resultantly, systems of oppression in schools and the broader society can be dismantled.

Social Identities, 2009

Critical race theory (CRT) has been a framework used to better understand practice and research i... more Critical race theory (CRT) has been a framework used to better understand practice and research in education. Leading scholarship in CRT has called upon researchers and practitioners interested in CRT for education to attend to the tenets of CRT beyond counter-storytelling. The article begins with a counterstory to make sense of race as it manifests in one teacher education program

Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 2013

Despite the unparalleled trauma associated with the Sandy Hook Shootings, school shootings are ne... more Despite the unparalleled trauma associated with the Sandy Hook Shootings, school shootings are neither uncommon nor relegated to the contemporary moment. The first documented U.S. school shooting o...

Introduction In the age of the Obama presidency many claim we live in a post-racial society. As s... more Introduction In the age of the Obama presidency many claim we live in a post-racial society. As social justice pre-service teacher educators, the mythical 'post-racial' context has created a certain death for socio-cultural foundations (SCF) (1) of education as well as culturally relevant approaches to teacher education. Simultaneously the virulent racism of the past has been replaced with what we might call 'racism 2.0,' a less direct but equally problematic set of engagements with race, hiding behind the thin veil of politically correct language. What is worse, the death of SCF and culturally relevant approaches systematically works to ensure that the gaps between White and non-White students remain, while education maintains its neoliberal social reproduction role in the free-market. To prepare pre-service educators to occupy educational environments with society's most vulnerable students, we believe pre-service teacher education must take seriously the need ...

Multicultural Perspectives

Multicultural Perspectives, 2018

Democracy and Education, 2016

Hayes, Juarez, and Escoffery-Runnels (2014) analyzed the educational philosophies and pedagogical... more Hayes, Juarez, and Escoffery-Runnels (2014) analyzed the educational philosophies and pedagogical practices of two educators to understand how personal and professional experiences individually and collectively influenced their approach to teaching. Using oral histories, they presented an argument of why culturally relevant and social justice– oriented teaching has historically been an effective tool in educating students of color, and why it is necessary for teacher preparation in today's so-called post-racial climate. We suggest that that the education system is merely a microcosm of society, and consequently, we must consider structures larger than individual best practices when discussing culturally relevant teaching. Bridges to benefits are networks of White privilege that flow between institutions, such as education, the economy, and the law, and that involve capitalizing on the misery of Blacks while simultaneously protecting White supremacy. We use the " bridges to benefits " concept to propose that scholars not focus solely on education but rather focus on how social institutions in general are created and designed such that they continually oppress and suppress Black and Brown Americans. We draw special attention to America's criminal justice system, labor, and housing market.

Democracy and Education, 2017

Since the 1930s, federal housing policies and individual practices increased the spatial separati... more Since the 1930s, federal housing policies and individual practices increased the spatial separation of whites and blacks. Practices such as redlining, restrictive covenants, and discrimination in the rental and sale of housing not only led to residential segregation by race but also continue to shape Whiteness and frame narratives about what constitutes Blackness. Despite the judicial and legislative victories of the civil rights movement, including the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, residential segregation persists and in many cases has grown. Claims of a postracial society notwithstanding, the continued segregation of Blacks and Whites exacerbates racial wealth inequality , racial achievement gaps, and racial profiling. Using White racial frame and critical race theory, we explain the persistence of residential segregation amid growing ethnic diversity in the United States. We also demonstrate why current efforts to narrow racial gaps in wealth, education, and the criminal justice system have failed. Finally, we discuss several important tenets that must guide efforts to curb the epidemic of death by residential segregation in America.

Constructing Knowledge, 2013

Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage f... more Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage for the examination of racism in teacher education, within the United States of America, using critical race theory (CRT) as an analytical tool. The setting of these chronicles is during a time when postracial rhetoric in the United States was at its highest—just after the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. The three friends take the readers on a journey through their graduate experience in teacher education and into their first faculty position in teacher education. Their experiences , as students and junior faculty, are akin to what many faculty and students of color and their White allies experience daily in teacher education programs across the United States. The analysis of their chronicle , using CRT, reveals that postracial discourse has disguised racism and racial microaggression in teacher education. Racial microaggres-sion is as pernicious as other forms of racism and, through its passive-aggressive orientation, validates institutional and individual lack of attention to issues of race.

Racism 2.0 and the Death of Social and Cultural Foundations of Education: A Critical Conversation... more Racism 2.0 and the Death of Social and Cultural Foundations of Education: A Critical Conversation, draws upon the traditions of Critical Race Theory to present two counterstories. The counterstories reveal a resistance and slow killing of socio-cultural foundations (SCF) of education, the use of culturally responsive frameworks, and the silencing of faculty who engage SCF traditions. The arguments of this piece highlights the challenges in teacher education as these challenges relate to race and the need for engagement with SCF. This piece is meant to open up space to talk about race in the Foundation of Education. The arguments ultimately provide a set of analytical insights that can serve as a mechanism to understand why critical conversations about race and SCF remain largely "unspoken" in teacher-preparation programs. he authors conclude by offering recommendations for how faculty members and leaders in teacher education can move forward by working against resistance to race and SCF.

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2015

Multicultural Perspectives, 2018

Choice Reviews Online, 2013

Journal of Pan African Studies, Nov 1, 2014

Equity & Excellence in Education, 2014

Constructing Knowledge, 2013

Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications

Social Identities, 2009

Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 2013

Multicultural Perspectives

Multicultural Perspectives, 2018

Democracy and Education, 2016

Democracy and Education, 2017

Constructing Knowledge, 2013

Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage f... more Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage for the examination of racism in teacher education, within the United States of America, using critical race theory (CRT) as an analytical tool. The setting of these chronicles is during a time when postracial rhetoric in the United States was at its highest—just after the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. The three friends take the readers on a journey through their graduate experience in teacher education and into their first faculty position in teacher education. Their experiences , as students and junior faculty, are akin to what many faculty and students of color and their White allies experience daily in teacher education programs across the United States. The analysis of their chronicle , using CRT, reveals that postracial discourse has disguised racism and racial microaggression in teacher education. Racial microaggres-sion is as pernicious as other forms of racism and, through its passive-aggressive orientation, validates institutional and individual lack of attention to issues of race.

The United States is not post-racial, despite claims otherwise. The days of lynching have been re... more The United States is not post-racial, despite claims otherwise. The days of lynching have been replaced with a pernicious modern racism and race-based violence equally strong and more difficult to untangle. This violence too often results in the killing of Black Americans, particularly males. While society may believe we have transcended race, contemporary history tells another story with the recent killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others. While their deaths are tragic, the greater tragedy is that incidents making the news are only a fraction of the assault on communities of color in. This volume takes seriously the need for concentrated and powerful dialogue to emerge in the wake of these murders that illuminates the assault in a powerful and provocative way. Through a series of essays, written by leading and emerging academics in the field of race studies, the short “conversations” in this collection challenge readers to contemplate the myth of post-raciality, and the real nature of the assaults on communities of color. The essays in this volume, all under 2000 words, cut to the heart of the matter using current assaults as points of departure and is relevant to education, sociology, law, social work, and criminology.

What makes a community? Can we segregate by skin color, or walled off entire cities as in Gaza, and still build responsive and generative social units? We cannot hope to create in the USA the kind of reflective and active society where people learn from each other through dialogue across difference if the dominant white culture refuses a social compact among all members that reflects diversity and solidarity. Sometimes angry, always passionate and principled, the short chapters in Assaults on Communities of Color are like bursts of fire that both illuminate ideas and ignite commitments to critical and inclusive democratic praxis.
(AG Rud, distinguished professor, Washington State University)

The Assault on Communities of Color breaks through all the lies, misconceptions, and distortions that fuel the idea that we now live in a post racial state. Not only does the book explore how race and violence intersect in a myriad of institutional, symbolic, and everyday relations, the authors use this point of analysis to begin a dialogue that is critical, informative, and speaks to the need to develop democratic public spheres and a formative culture in which such a dialogue can take place and move from words, shared values, and ethical responsibility to collective action. The Assault on Communities of Color offers up a signpost and much needed vision that at this particular historical provides a vibrant language, fresh politics, and inspired sense of civic courage. (Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest)

There is a long history of racial, social, and political unrest and injustice in this nation – a historical trauma. Notions about violence have always developed alongside socioeconomic and race-based realities. Views of the nature of violence are rooted in racist and classist worldviews that often place the deficiencies of certain groups’ inability to disrupt racism, cycles of poverty, and educational inequities and the architects of their own urban casualties (Riessman, 1962; Moynihan, 1965. Issues in Ferguson, Missouri and other communities are the newest failure of the larger society to substantially address the systemic issues of racial injustice and violation of human rights in communities of color in the United States. This volume provides a critical look at issues such as racism, community segregation, whiteness and other hegemonies and how they re/produce injustice and violence; but also how space, place, and institutionalism produce and maintain white dominance and violence. This is the right volume during a time of wrongs. (Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, PhD, associate professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Missouri-Columbia)

We live in a time when racial tension is bubbling up and seeping through the cracks in the sidewalk. It is imperative that we as educators take to the streets and classrooms to change the hearts and minds of young people to provide opportunities to and solidify the dignity of all. In The Assault on Communities of Color, Fasching-Varner, Hartlep, and their colleagues make it crystal clear that we cannot wait any longer to stand up, and rise up, against injustice. (Marybeth Gasman, professor, University of Pennsylvania)

Searing, gritty, and jarring—this collection of essays brings together theoretical complexity with personal reflections to propel forward the public dialogue on race and violence in the United States today. Fasching-Varner, Hartlep, and colleagues implore us to grapple with the intricacies and the excesses of the profoundly normalized nature of the Assault on Communities of Color, even while taking hope in collectivizings that permeate the moment that we are in as being nothing short of building movement for anti-oppressive change. Read this book and join the movement. (Kevin Kumashiro, dean,University of San Francisco School of Education, author of "Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture")

This volume provides a concentrated and powerful dialogue in the wake of recent murders of young Black males and assaults on communities of color. Through a series of conversation starters, written by leading and emerging academics in the field of race studies, the short essays in this collection challenge readers to contemplate the myth of post-raciality and the real nature of the assaults on communities of color.

RBF takes up William A. Smith’s idea and extends it as a means of understanding how the “academy” or higher education operates. Through microagressions, stereotype threat, underfunding and defunding of initiatives/offices, expansive commitments to diversity related strategic plans with restrictive power and action, and departmental climates of exclusivity and inequity; diversity workers (faculty, staff, and administration of color along with white allies in like positions) find themselves in a badlands where identity difference is used to promote institutional values while at the same time creating unimaginable work spaces for these workers.

Trayvon Martin, Race, and "American Justice": Writing Wrong is the first comprehensive text to an... more Trayvon Martin, Race, and "American Justice": Writing Wrong is the first comprehensive text to analyze not only the killing of Trayvon Martin, but the implications of this event for the state of race in the United States. Bringing together contributions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, this text pushes readers to answer the question: "In the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin, and the acquittal of his killer, how post-racial can we claim to be?" This collection of short and powerful chapters is at times angering and at times hopeful, but always thought provoking, critical, and poignant. This interdisciplinary volume is well suited for undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty in sociology, social work, law, communication, and education. This book can also be read by anyone interested in social justice and equity through the lens of race in the 21st century.

In the wake of the election of President Obama, many diversity scholars and practitioners imagine... more In the wake of the election of President Obama, many diversity scholars and practitioners imagined that renewed commitments to educational equity and justice were just around the corner. Unfortunately, the opposite has become the Obama-era reality. Across the country, equity and diversity workers at all levels in university and colleges, but especially Chief Diversity Officers in public institutions, are under assault. Is this assault a result of a pre-meditated and carefully calculated conservative political agenda or the unfortunate consequence of how largely white, politically conservative—and the power bases they represent—are expressing their anger about the changing racial landscape in the United States? This volume explores and deconstructs the reasons for this assault from various perspectives. This volume also illustrates how the national assault on equity and diversity has resulted in a continuum. At one end are “diversity-friendly” institutions that are benignly neglecting equity/diversity efforts because of state budget crises. At the other end of the spectrum are the deliberate efforts being made to systematically dismantle equity and diversity work in especially politically conservative states.

The journey of becoming a teacher is a complicated, emotional, and often intricate endeavor. Much... more The journey of becoming a teacher is a complicated, emotional, and often intricate endeavor. Much has been written about pre-service teachers but rarely do we understand the journey through their own voices. Join nine pre-service teachers as they share their experiences, challenges, and victories through a series of powerful narratives. Committed to making the process more transparent for those embarking on a similar journey, the chapter authors share honest, personal, and heartfelt viewpoints about what it means to become a teacher.
The nine pre-service teachers in this volume all participated in a yearlong student teaching in the renowned Elementary Holmes Master of Arts in Teaching program at Louisiana State University. Putting to practice critical perspectives about what it means to teach in the 21st century, these authors expose their vulnerabilities with a range of literary approaches including metaphor, reflective journaling, and storytelling. The volume is framed by teacher educator insights about the contexts and complexities of teaching. A must read for anyone preparing to student teach, or for those already student teaching, Student Teaching: A Journey in Narratives deals directly with the realities of learning to teach.

Sometimes poetic, sometimes painful, these compelling personal narratives of novice teachers provide a poignant view of the struggles, fears, and celebrations developing teachers traverse on the journey to induction into the profession. Teacher educators and teacher candidates alike will find much to explore and discuss in these chapters. No stone of learning to teach is left unturned! — Lisa Delpit, Author of Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom and Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children.