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The purpose of this study was to deconstruct how and to what extent white faculty members resisted upholding white supremacy culture (WSC; Okun, 1999) during a critical event (Mertova and Webster, 2019) in their service learning and community-engaged (SLCE) practice. There are many critiques of SLCE practices, especially due to the perpetuation of colonization (Hernandez, 2017), assumptions based in racism and classism (Green, 2003), Whiteness (Applebaum, 2016; Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999). These topics have received more attention over the past decade, but there is still significantly less research on actions taken by SLCE faculty to actively resist perpetuating them (Mitchell et al., 2012). Guided by critical event narrative inquiry (Mertova and Webster, 2019) and framed by both first- and second-wave Critical Whiteness Studies (Jupp and Badenhorst, 2021), six participants were engaged in two empathetic interviews to answer the following research questions: 1. What impact has the examination of their own Whiteness had on white faculty members' SLCE praxis? 2. How did white faculty members resist upholding Whiteness (Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999) during critical events in their service learning and community-engaged (SLCE) practice? 3. How do white faculty members continue to resist Whiteness and WSC in their SLCE praxis despite barriers, challenges, and tensions they have faced on their campuses and within their communities in doing so? Critical narrative analysis (Langdridge, 2007) was used to deconstruct the faculty members' experiences during these critical events (Mertova and Webster, 2019) in their SLCE practice. Findings relate to the importance of considering the setting, context, and impact of action taken within specific academic fields as well as the field of service learning and community engagement more broadly. Doctor of Philosophy Service Learning and Community Engagement (SLCE) describes the ways in which faculty and students engage with off-campus community organizations for the supposed benefit of all involved. The assumption is that students explore and experience topics they learn about in their classes, faculty members can have more direct impact with their teaching and research, and community partners reap the benefits of this student involvement and faculty engagement. There are many concerns, however, about the presence and perpetuation of colonization (Hernandez, 2017), assumptions based in racism and classism (Green, 2003), Whiteness (Applebaum, 2016; Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999) through SLCE. These topics have received more attention over the past decade, but there is still significantly less research on actions taken by SLCE faculty to actively resist perpetuating them (Mitchell et al., 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore the ways that white faculty members addressed these topics in their own teaching, research, and service work. Through two interviews each of the six participants shared more about their own identities and the impact these had on their development and experiences. They also provided context about their academic fields, the relationships they have with their community partners, and the ways in which they have taken action to address the topics of Whiteness and the characteristics of white supremacy culture in their SLCE. The findings of this study relate to the importance of considering the setting, context, and impact of action taken within specific academic fields as well as the field of service learning and community engagement more broadly.

Communities of color in particular have experienced a traumatic history of structural violence, interpersonal racism, segregation, and oppression. The unjust history of structural violence and the deleterious treatment of people and cultures in the U.S., that in part stems from neoliberal policies and rationality, continues to plague communities and people within the food system. Many people and communities are working to actualize the social-ethical ideal of a non-violent 'beloved community' to counter this unjust history and expand the boundaries of what is possible for individuals and society. Historical and systemic injustices ramify the adverse experiences and trauma affecting vulnerable people's lives. The effects and pervasiveness of individual and collective trauma at a global scale has highlighted a serious need for broader-scale awareness and adoption of a trauma-informed care approach by community food work organizations, practitioners, and social change leaders. A trauma-informed care approach was developed as a health care framework based on the importance of adverse childhood events to poor distal health and mental health outcomes. Without a deeper understanding of how extensive the collective impact of such trauma and injustice is on people and the food system; community food work researchers and practitioners may reify uninformed responses that result in continued trauma and injustice. However, there are few examples of community food work organizations using a trauma-informed care approach as an organizational change process to promote community transformation and resilience. This research examined and specifically analyzed how a community food work organization that is engaged in mutual aid and social-ecological activism embodies trauma-informed care; engenders an agential change space; and grapples with the aspirations and tensions of being an organization seeking to ameliorate the effects of anthropogenic trauma and expand the boundaries of what is possible individually and collectively. A narrative inquiry methodology was used to critically explore and study the perceptions and thoughts of 17 study participants of how a trauma-informed approach to care is embodied and agential change space provided as mutual aid and community food work. The seventeen study participants' narratives were coded and analyzed using the Principles of a Trauma-Informed Care Framework defined by SAMHSA (2014), Bowen and Murshid (2016), and Hecht et al (2018). The narrative inquiry of seventeen narratives demonstrated that an integrated trauma-informed care approach as an organizational change process is essential to the formation of agential change space and has wide-reaching applicability to mutual aid efforts and community food work pedagogy and praxis, especially as organizations and practitioners confront ongoing systemic trauma and injustices that have resulted from structural violence and continue to persist due to the dominant hegemonic neoliberal framing that exists in relation to race, gender, and socioeconomic class. Doctor of Philosophy Communities of color in particular have experienced a traumatic history of structural violence, interpersonal racism, segregation, and oppression. The unjust history of structural violence and the deleterious treatment of people and cultures in the U.S., that in part stems from neoliberal policies and rationality, continues to plague communities and the food system. Many people and communities are working to actualize the social-ethical ideal of a non-violent 'beloved community' to counter this unjust history and expand the boundaries of what is possible individually and collectively. Without a deeper understanding of how extensive the collective impact of such trauma and injustice is on people and the food system; community food work researchers and practitioners may reify uninformed responses that result in continued trauma and injustice. However, there are few examples of community food work organizations using a trauma-informed care approach as an organizational change process to promote food system transformation. This research examined the ecotonal nature of community food work and specifically analyzed how a community food work organization that is engaged in mutual aid and social-ecological activism embodies trauma-informed care; engenders an agential change space; and grapples with the aspirations and tensions of being an organization seeking to ameliorate the effects of anthropogenic trauma and expand the boundaries of what is possible individually and collectively. A case study and narrative inquiry methodology was used to critically explore perceptions and thoughts of 17 study participants and stakeholders of meaningful support as embodying a trauma-informed care approach and participative interaction as engendering agential change space as mutual aid and community food work. The seventeen study participants' narratives were coded and analyzed using the Principles of a Trauma-Informed Care Framework defined by SAMHSA (2014), Bowen and Murshid (2016), and Hecht et al. (2018). The narrative inquiry of seventeen narratives demonstrated that an integrated trauma-informed care approach as an organizational change process is essential to the formation of agential change space and has wide-reaching applicability to mutual aid efforts and community food work as pedagogy and praxis, especially as organizations and practitioners confront ongoing systemic trauma and injustices that have resulted from structural violence and continue to persist due to the dominant hegemonic neoliberal framing that exists in relation to race, gender, and socioeconomic class.