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Rad Fatties and 'The Obese': Activism, Fat Studies and Paradigm Shifts in the UK

Rad Fatties and 'The Obese': Activism, Fat Studies and Paradigm Shifts in the UK. Charlotte Cooper. What I'm going to do today. How I got into fat What I mean by fat activism How straight obesity research cannot recognise the richness of (my) fat experience

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Rad Fatties and 'The Obese': Activism, Fat Studies and Paradigm Shifts in the UK

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  1. Rad Fatties and 'The Obese':Activism, Fat Studies and Paradigm Shifts in the UK Charlotte Cooper

  2. What I'm going to do today • How I got into fat • What I mean by fat activism • How straight obesity research cannot recognise the richness of (my) fat experience • How Fat Studies and HAES offer a different paradigm that can • Possible challenges • Some comments about the seminar series

  3. This is how it started…

  4. What fat activism means to me • Interpretive framework • Citizenship • Structural change great, but not essential • Survival • Wellbeing • Radical potential of hope • Fun • …

  5. Dominant obesity discourse • Out of touch • Reductionist • Methodologically suspect • Stale model • Abstracts, absents and abjects 'the obese' • Stifles dissent • Utterly ill-equipped to understand me and my kind • Does not contribute to my quality of life as a fat person, it diminishes it

  6. Shifting the paradigm • Fat people are central as protagonists and producers of the discourse • Fat people are people with agency, context, community, resources, etc • Fat people are less likely to be abjected • There is a relationship between activism and scholarship • Fat people are more likely to be regarded as people rather than objects for intervention • Multi-disciplinary: includes health and medicalisation but also moves far beyond it • Values fat experience • Critical, celebratory, questioning • …

  7. Possible challenges • Needs broader/international research networks • Managing criticism • Bunker mentality, bullying and demonising • Same old same old • Recognising broader historical and cultural contexts

  8. Thanks Charlotte.Cooper@ul.ie www.obesitytimebomb.blogspot.com

  9. Bovey, S. (1989) Being Fat is Not a Sin, London: Pandora. Butland, B., Jebb, S., Kopelman, P., McPherson, K., Thomas, S., Mardell, J. and Parry, V. (2005) 'Foresight Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Project Report', Government Office for Science, London. Cooper, C. (2009a) 'Fat Activism in Ten Astonishing, Beguiling, Inspiring and Beautiful Episodes', in Tomrley, C. & Kaloski Naylor, A. (Eds.) Fat Studies In The UK, York: Raw Nerve Books — (2009b) 'Fat Lib: How Activism Expands The Obesity Debate', in Aphramor, L., Monaghan, L. & Emma, R. (Eds.) Expanding The Obesity Debate, Basingstoke: Palgrave — (2009c) 'Maybe it should be called Fat American Studies?', in Rothblum, E. & Solovay, S. (Eds.) The Fat Studies Reader, New York: New York University Press forthcoming. Evans, J. R., E.; Davies, B; Allwood, R. (2008) Education, Disordered Eating and Obesity Discourse: Fat Fabrications, Abingdon: Routledge. Gard, M. (2008) 'Friends, Enemies and the Cultural Politics of Critical Obesity Research', in Wright, J. H., V. (Ed.) Biopolitics and the Obesity Epidemic: Governing Bodies, London: Taylor & Francis 31-34. Guthman, J. (2009) 'Teaching the Politics of Obesity: Insights into Neoliberal Embodiment and Contemporary Biopolitics', Antipode, 41:5, 1110–1133. Harvey, D. (2007) A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hill, A. (2009) Living with Obesity: A Psychological Perspective. Size Matters? Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England, Bristol. Kirkland, A. (2008) Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood, New York: New York University Press. Murray, S. (2005) 'Doing Politics or Selling Out? Living the Fat Body', Women's Studies International Forum, 34:3-4, 265-277. Rothblum, E. & Solovay, S. (2009) The Fat Studies Reader, New York: New York University Press. Schoenfielder, L. & Wieser, B. (1983) Shadow On A Tightrope: Writings By Women on Fat Oppression, San Francisco: Aunt Lute. Spencer, A. (2005) DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. Stasko, C. (2008) '(r)Evolutionary Healing: Jamming with Culture and Shifting the Power', in Harris, A. (Ed.) Next Wave Cultures: Feminism, Subcultures, Activism, New York: Routledge 193-220. Wright, J. & Harwood, V. (2008) Biopolitics and the Obesity Epidemic: Governing Bodies, London: Taylor & Francis.

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