Here's the abstract:
An extensive body of literature concerning obesity already exists, but this paper seeks to map the field of an emerging body of work that is critical of that dominant discourse. Although it has been most recently mobilised by the rhetoric of an assumed global obesity epidemic, or moral panic around fatness, Fat Studies has an extensive history and interdisciplinary literature which questions and problematises traditional understandings of obesity and draws upon the language, culture and theory of civil rights, social justice and social change. Fat Studies enables the reframing of the problem of obesity, where it is not the fat body that is at issue, but the cultural production of fatphobia. Given the powerful commercial, ideological and institutional interest in maintaining dominant obesity discourse, such reframing is contested. Nevertheless, this paper demonstrates that Fat Studies offers dynamic new possibilities for social scientists interested in using fat as an interrogative lens.
It's taken well over a year to come out, academic publishing is so dreadfully slow, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, certainly there are many things I'd change. Oh well! Hopefully some people will find it useful, and maybe build on the work themselves.
Let me know if you would like a copy, just send me your email address.
Cooper, C. (2010) 'Fat Studies: Mapping The Field', Sociology Compass, 4: 12, 1020-1034.
