Abstracts
Abstract
This article is the result of a case study of Frequently Asked White Questions (FAWQ) by Ajay Parasram and Alex Khasnabish. We examine FAWQ as a tool for fostering meaningful conversations about race and anti‑racism. In order to facilitate social change through books and book talk, a book must be discoverable and visible. Further, for a book to have this kind of social impact, we argue that three things must be true: that the guiding ethos of the publisher is one of progressive politics; that the author(s)’ stories are authentic and accessible; and that communication about the book’s contents between the publishing agents, authors, and readers follows a politic of love. Situating this discussion within the current political environment, we highlight the urgency of such conversations. Drawing from Paulo Freire’s concept of dialogue as foundational to social transformation, we argue that by normalizing discomfort and centering relational engagement, the book offers a model for navigating difficult discussions in ways that resist ideological rigidity and promote sustained, everyday activism.
Keywords:
- Racism,
- critical race theory,
- critical pedagogy,
- case study
Résumé
Le présent article s’intéresse au cas de Frequently Asked White Questions (FAWQ) d’Ajay Parasram et Alex Khasnabish en tant qu’ouvrage pouvant faire émerger des conversations significatives à propos de la race et de l’antiracisme. Pour que les livres soient des catalyseurs de changement social, il faut nécessairement que la politique éditoriale soit progressiste; que les récits soient authentiques et accessibles; et que les échanges qu’entretiennent agences littéraires, autrices, auteurs et lectorat à propos du contenu de l’oeuvre soient marqués par une politique de l’amour. En nous appuyant sur le concept de dialogue de Paulo Freire comme fondement d’une transformation du monde, nous montrons que le livre, parce qu’il normalise l’inconfort et vise l’engagement relationnel, propose un modèle pour amorcer des discussions difficiles, modèle qui résiste à la rigidité idéologique, et soutient un activisme concret et durable. De telles discussions apparaissent d’autant plus nécessaires dans le contexte politique actuel.
Mots-clés :
- Racisme,
- théorie critique de la race,
- pédagogie critique,
- étude de cas
Appendices
Bibliography
- Adams, Thomas R., and Nicolas Barker. “A New Model for the Study of the Book.” In A Potencie of Life: Books in Society, 5–43. London: British Library, 1993.
- Baker, Rae, and Alexander Ferrer. Foreword by Samuel Stein. Dispatches from the Threshold: Tenant Power in Times of Crisis. Fernwood Publishing, 2025.
- Barbosa, Lia Pinheiro, Peter Rosset, and Henry Veltmeyer. Lessons from the Zapatistas: From Armed Insurgency to Peoples’ Autonomy. Expanded and Updated English edition. Critical Development Studies. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing; Winnipeg: Practical Action Publishing, 2025.
- Berglund, Karl. Reading Audio Readers: Book Consumption in the Streaming Age. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.
- BookNet Canada. “5 Questions with Fernwood Publishing,” October 21, 2024. https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2024/10/21/5‑questions‑with‑fernwood‑publishing.
- Brooks, Dwight E. “I Am Not Your Negro: James Baldwin’s Challenge to America and Its Media.” In Race/Gender/Class/Media: Considering Diversity across Audiences, Content and Procedures, edited by Rebecca Ann Lind, 5th ed., 93–97. New York, New York; London: Routledge, 2023.
- Bunn, Curtis. “Alabama Bans DEI Programs in Public Colleges and the Teaching of ‘Divisive Concepts.’” NBC News, March 20, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/alabama‑passes‑dei‑ban‑rcna144300.
- Burlock, Beverley. “Book Review ‘Frequently Asked White Questions.’” ProgressiveChristianity.org. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/book‑review‑frequently‑asked‑white‑questions/.
- Chabot Davis, Kimberly. “White Book Clubs and African American Literature: The Promise and Limitations of Cross‑Racial Empathy.” LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 19, no. 2 (2008): 155–86.
- Chen, Zhen Troy, and La‑Mei Chen. “Chinese ‘Female Force’ in an ‘American Factory’: Women’s Identity Formation in an English Reading Club.” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 27, no. 2 (April 3, 2021): 161–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2021.1913850.
- Childress, Clayton. Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel. Princeton University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400885275.
- Criswell, J., and N. Canty. “Deconstructing Social Media: An Analysis of Twitter and Facebook Use in the Publishing Industry.” Publishing Research Quarterly 30, no. 4 (November 21, 2014): 352–76.
- Dane, Alexandra, and Millicent Weber, eds. Post‑Digital Book Cultures: Australian Perspectives. Clayton, VIC: Monash University Publishing, 2021.
- Dane, Alexandra, Millicent Weber, and Claire Parnell. “‘You’re Too Smart to Be a Publicist’: Perceptions, Expectations and the Labour of Book Publicity.” Media, Culture & Society, July 24, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231188447.
- Darnton, Robert. “What Is the History of Books? Revisited.” Modern Intellectual History 4, no. 3 (2007): 495–508.
- Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. “Critical Race Theory (Third Edition): An Introduction.” In Critical Race Theory (Third Edition). New York University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479851393.001.0001.
- Driscoll, Beth, and DeNel Rehberg Sedo. “Faraway, So Close: Seeing the Intimacy in Goodreads Reviews.” Qualitative Inquiry 25, no. 3 (September 26, 2018): 248–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418801375.
- Driscoll, Beth, and DeNel Rehberg Sedo. “The Transnational Reception of Bestselling Books between Canada and Australia.” Global Media and Communication 16, no. 2 (August 1, 2020): 243–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766520921910.
- Driscoll, Beth, and Claire Squires. The Frankfurt Kabuff Critical Edition. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2023. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/219/edited_volume/book/114877.
- Fernwood Publishing. “Safe Space for White Questions.” YouTube. Accessed January 10, 2025. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK6AfMvbieN0QF4RR_McJafcncAWa4NUk.
- Fernwood Publishing. “Who We Are.” Accessed January 13, 2025. https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/about.
- Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary edition. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2012.
- Fuller, Danielle, and DeNel Rehberg Sedo. Reading beyond the Book the Social Practices of Contemporary Literary Culture. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies 49. New York, New York; London: Routledge, 2013.
- Fuller, Danielle, and DeNel Rehberg Sedo. Reading Bestsellers: Recommendation Culture and the Multimodal Reader. Cambridge University Press, 2023.
- Graham, David. “Market Activism: A Publisher’s Perspective.” In Literary Activism: A Symposium, edited by Amit Ghaudhuri. Norwich: Boiler House Press, 2017. https://www.literaryactivism.com/market-activism/.
- Griswold, Eliza. “How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement.” The New York Times, no. 21 (2012).
- Haynes, Christine. “Reassessing ‘Genius’ in Studies of Authorship: The State of the Discipline.” Book History 8, no. 1 (2005): 287–320.
- Im, Gyeong Soon. “The Historical Background of the Emergence of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and Its Influences.” Korean Journal of Medical History 5, no. 2 (1996): 99–110.
- Janes, R. M. “On the Reception of Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” Journal of the History of Ideas 39, no. 2 (1978): 293–302. https://doi.org/10.2307/2708781.
- Jiwa, Fazeela. “The Radical Role of Developmental Editing.” The Editors’ Weekly, July 27, 2023. https://blog.editors.ca/the‑radical‑role‑of‑developmental‑editing/.
- Kirsop, Wallace. “The State of the Discipline: Booksellers and Their Customers: Some Reflections on Recent Research.” Book History 1, no. 1 (1998): 283–303.
- Kleres, Jochen. “Emotions and Narrative Analysis: A Methodological Approach.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 41, no. 2 (June 2011): 182–202.
- Leith, Sam. “How Activists Captured Publishing.” UnHerd (blog), August 5, 2021. https://unherd.com/2021/08/how‑activists‑captured‑publishing/.
- Levine, Susan. “The Feminine Mystique at Fifty.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 36, no. 2 (2015): 41–46.
- Khasnabish, Alex. “Ecologies of the Radical Imagination.” Information, Communication & Society 23, no. 12 (October 14, 2020): 1718–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1631368.
- MacLeod, Sheldon. “Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod: ‘Frequently Asked White Questions.’” PNI Atlantic News, November 8, 2022. https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic‑canada/thinking‑out‑loud‑with‑sheldon‑macleod‑frequently‑asked‑white‑questions‑100792688.
- Maruca, Lisa, and Kate Ozment. “What Is Critical Bibliography?” Criticism (Detroit) 64, no. 3/4 (2022): 231–36. https://doi.org/10.1353/crt.2022.a899716.
- McHenry, Elizabeth. Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.
- Milks, M. “Book Club Made Me Gay,” JSTOR Daily, June 21, 2017, https://daily.jstor.org/book‑club‑made‑me‑gay/.
- Noorda, Rachel. “Borrowing Place Brands: Product Branding from SMEs in the Publishing Industry.” Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship 21, no. 2 (December 5, 2019): 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME‑07‑2017‑0022.
- Noorda, Rachel, Corinna Norrick‑Rühl, and Elizabeth le Roux. “Exploring Transnational Dimensions of Activism in Contemporary Book Culture: Introduction.” Mémoires Du Livre / Studies in Book Culture 13, no. 2 (2022): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7202/1100559ar.
- O’Neill, Helen. “John Stuart Mill and the London Library: A Victorian Book Legacy Revealed.” Book History 19, no. 1 (2016): 256–83.
- Ou, Michelle. “Fazeela Jiwa Named Winner of the 2023 Tom Fairley Award.” Editors Canada, June 19, 2023. https://editors.ca/news/fazeela‑jiwa‑named‑winner‑of‑the‑2023‑tom‑fairley‑award/.
- Parasram, Ajay, and Alex Khasnabish. Frequently Asked White Questions. Halifax; Fernwood Publishing, 2022.
- Parnell, Claire, and Beth Driscoll. “Institutions, Platforms and the Production of Debut Success in Contemporary Book Culture.” Media International Australia 187, no. 1 (May 1, 2023): 123–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X211036192.
- Pawley, Christine. “Seeking ‘Significance’: Actual Readers, Specific Reading Communities.” Book History 5, no. 1 (2002): 143–60.
- Reinsborough, Patrick, Doyle Canning, and Jonathan Matthew Smucker. Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story‑Based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World. Second Edition. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2017.
- Rukavina, Alison. “A Victorian Amazon.Com: Edward Petherick and His Colonial Booksellers’ Agency.” Book History 13, no. 1 (2010): 104–21.
- Ray, Rashawn, and Alexandra Gibbons. “Why Are States Banning Critical Race Theory?” Brookings (blog). Accessed January 29, 2025. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why‑are‑states‑banning‑critical‑race‑theory/.
- Roach, Rebecca. “The Role and Function of Author Interviews in the Contemporary Anglophone Literary Field.” Book History 23, no. 1 (2020): 335–64.
- Simons, Helen. “Case Study Research: In‑Depth Understanding in Context.” In The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by Patricia Leavy, 455–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Snelgrove, Corey, Rita Dhamoon, and Jeff Corntassel. “Unsettling Settler Colonialism: The Discourse and Politics of Settlers, and Solidarity with Indigenous Nations.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3, no. 2 (September 29, 2014). https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/21166.
- Souto‑Manning, Mariana. “Critical Narrative Analysis: The Interplay of Critical Discourse and Narrative Analyses.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 27, no. 2 (2014): 159–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2012.737046.
- Squires, Claire. Marketing Literature: The Making of Contemporary Writing in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Squires, Claire, and Padmini Ray Murray. “The Digital Communications Circuit | The Book Unbound | AHRC and University of Stirling.” Book 2.0 3, no. 1 (2013): 3–24.
- The White House. “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” The White House, January 21, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential‑actions/2025/01/ending‑radical‑and‑wasteful‑government‑dei‑programs‑and‑preferencing/.
- Trower, Shelley. “Forgetting Fiction: An Oral History of Reading: (Centred on Interviews in South London, 2014–15).” Book History 23, no. 1 (2020): 269–98.
- Vancouver Public Library. “Ajay Parasram: Frequently Asked White Questions.” YouTube, May 5, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeMxK1QIe2w.
- Weber, Millicent, Claire Parnell, and Alexandra Dane. “Book Publicists and the Labour of Cultural Intermediation.” Continuum 37, no. 3 (May 4, 2023): 365–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2237708.
- Yin, Robert K. “How to Do Better Case Studies: (With Illustrations from 20 Exemplary Case Studies).” In The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods, edited by Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Roj, 2nd ed., 254–82. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483348858.
10.7202/1100559ar