This qualitative multi-site case study explores critical aesthetic experiences in teacher education classrooms, and advocates for the inclusion of theoretical and practical knowledge of "difficult knowledge," visual culture, and critical aesthetics in the classroom. Social reality consists of a perpetual stream of tragic and horrific images that bombard individuals and leads to the normative assumption that such images are anesthetizing. This study complicates the assumption of apathy and desensitization through an empirical study where participants were asked to witness artwork and images of social injustice--in particular, visual culture depicting the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The implications of this study reveal the necessary work needed in teacher education to help teacher candidates develop the capacity and desire to engage visual culture and controversy in meaningful and substantive ways. This dissertation concludes with recommendations for a teacher education curriculum that would better prepare educators to confront difficult visual culture in the classroom. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]