Bretton Varga, PhD

Education

Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, University of South Florida

Areas of Expertise

• Social Studies
• Teacher education
• Curriculum theory

Biography

Bretton A. Varga, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of History-Social Science at California State University, Chico. His research works with(in) critical posthuman theories of race, materiality, and temporality to explore how visual methods and aesthetics can be used to unveil historically marginalized perspectives and layers (upon layers) of history that haunt the world around us. Along with being an assistant editor for the Journal of Posthumanism, he also is co-facilitator of the Posthuman Research Nexus (pRn). The (pRn) is an international initiative for supporting/connecting posthuman scholars and cultivating complex/critical ways of thinking-being-becoming in academia and beyond. Dr. Varga has a passion for teaching and learning international contexts and is highly involved in Chico State’s Fulbright and SUSI programs.

Publications

Varga, B. A. (In press). Posthuman figurations and hauntological graspings of historical consciousness/thinking through (re)photography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education

Varga, B. A., & Saleh, M. (In press). Embodiment and flows of kinship: Ma(r)king curriculum through material abstractness and counter-cartographies. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry

Varga, B. A., & Adams, E. C. (In press). Metallurgic matter(ing)s: Mirrored Mandalorian metal-scapes, mining(s), and mimesis. Journal of Posthumanism

Varga, B. A., & Adams, E. C. (2022). D032 n07 c0mpu73: Exploring (Post)human bodies and worlds with/in droidial(ity) and narrative contexts. Journal of Childhood Studies, 47(1), 70-87.

Ender, T., & Varga, B. A. (2022). The use of music to connect the past, present, and future. The Social Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2022.2034731

Varga, B. A., & Agosto, V. (2022). A constellation of (artistic) voices: Assembling historically provocative artwork and (e)merging racial perceptions. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2021.2004956

Varga, B. A., & van Kessel, C. (2021). Ma(r)king the unthinkable: Cultural and existential engagements of extreme historical violence. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 36(2), 16-31.

Varga, B. A., & Monreal, T. (2021). (Re)opening closed/ness: Hauntological engagements with historical markers in the threshold of mastery. Taboo, 20(3), 80-97.

Varga, B. A., van Kessel, C., & Helming, M. E. (2021). May her memory be a revolution: Engaging with the death & memorialization of socially significant public figures in social studies education. Oregon Journal of Social Studies, 9(1), 73-83.

Varga, B. A., van Kessel, C., Helmsing, M. E., & Christ, R. C. (2021). Hello from the other side: Breathing life into death and grief with/in the context of social studies education. Iowa Journal for the Social Studies, 29(2), 8-29.

Varga, B. A., Agosto, V., & Maguregui, J. (2021). Material counter-cartographies: (Un)mapping (in)justice, spatial wounding and abstract reticulations. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(9), 830-842. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2021.1885079

Jacobs, N., van Kessel, C., Varga, B. A. (2021). Disrupting rigid thinking with students in worldview threat: Existential considerations and implications. Taboo, 20(1), 51-65.

Presentations

Varga, B. A., & Adams, E. C. (2022, May). “Writing/reading for un/certainty, liminality, and (conceptual) nomadecy,” [Symposium]. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Annual Meeting, Urbana Champlain, IL.

Saleh, M., & Varga, B. A. (2022, April). “In/Consequential-ness of abstract world-ma(r)king: Composing (curricular) counter-cartographies,” [Symposium]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Varga, B. A., Ender, T., Hawkman, A. (2022, April). “Beyond the vibrant traces of perform(ance/ativity): Curricular thread(ing)s of sports uniforms,” [Roundtable session]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Varga, B. A., & Agosto, V. (2022, April). “Material counter-cartographies: (Un)mapping (in)justice, spatial wounding, and abstract reticulations,” [Symposium]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Varga, B. A., van Kessel, C., Helmsing, M. E., & Christ, R. (2022, April). “Snatching bodies, snatching history/ies: Exhuming the insidious plundering of black cemeteries as a curriculum of postmortem racism,” [Roundtable session]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Varga, B. A., & Shear, S. B. (2022, April). “Flows of anti-colonialism: (Re)Configurations and emplotments of more-than-witness(es/ing) in the an(thropo/glo)cene,” [Roundtable session]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Varga, B. A., & Adams, E. C. (2022, April). “Metallurgic matter(ing)s: Mirrored mandalorian metal-scapes, mining(s), and mimesis,” [Roundtable session]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Gunderson, J., Oloff-Lewis, J., Miller, M., Justeson, R., & Varga, B. A. (2022, January). “Pandemic perseverance: Reflecting on the challenges and effectiveness of a teacher residency program,” [Paper presentation]. Hawaii International Conference on Education, Kona, Hawaii.

Varga, B. A., van Kessel, Helmsing, M. E., & Christ, R. C. (2021, November). “Ghost,” College & University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Varga, B. A., & Saleh, M. (2021, May). “Consequential (artistic) geographies: Un/mapping teachers’ identities through counter-carttographies,” [Roundtable session]. Canadian Society for the Study of Education Annual Meeting, Ontario, Canada. 

Varga, B. A., & Adams, E. C. (2021, May). “Vibrant encounters: Tracing metallurgic un/limitations and animations in science fiction(al) universes,” [Roundtable session]. International Conference of Posthuman Mimesis: Embodiment, Affect, Contagion, Belgium.