This timely book examines how fascist ideology has taken hold among
certain segments of American society and how this can be addressed in
curriculum and instruction. Vavrus presents middle, secondary, and
college educators and their students with a conceptual framework for
enacting a critical multicultural pedagogy by analyzing discriminatory
discourse and recommending civic anti-fascist steps people can take
right now. For teacher education programs and policymakers, anti-fascist
civic assessment rubrics are provided. To help clarify contemporary
debates over what can be taught in public schools, an advance organizer
highlights contested and misunderstood terminology.
Featuring historical and contemporary patterns of fascist politics, this
accessible text is organized in four parts: (1) "Good Trouble," (2)
Unpacking Ideological Orientations, (3) Indicators of Colonial
Proto-Fascism and U.S. Fascist Politics, and (4) An Anti-Fascist
"Reading the World." Readers will come away with a deeper knowledge base
that marshalls a century of anti-fascist actions in response to
contemporary acts of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, gender and
sexuality discrimination, bias against Latinx and migrant populations,
and other actions that undermine our democracy and harm marginalized
students and their families and communities.
Book Features:
- A groundbreaking framework for incorporating anti-fascist pedagogical
concepts into multicultural education
- Descriptions of common characteristics of historical fascism,
far-right extremism, and anti-fascism.
- Anti-fascist assessment rubrics for teacher educators.
- Guidance to assist classroom teachers in contextualizing current
anti-democracy events.
- Recommended and annotated anti-fascist background readings informed by
critical, theoretical, and intersectional perspectives.
