Rethinking Fat

From Bio- to Body-Becoming Pedagogies

Bibliographic Data

ID2408751
AuthorsCarla Rice
Year2015
Volume15
Issue5
Pages387-397
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-7086 • E-ISSN: 1552-356X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532708615611720
OpenAlexW2284757774
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited36

This article engages with recent critical research on the obesity epidemic to think through the bioethics of current obesity prevention and consider alternative responses to fat bodies. To develop such an approach, it offers a feminist 'body becoming' theory of fat that interweaves constructivist and new materialist theories with embodied and aesthetic perspectives to imagine other possibilities for fat embodiment. Thinking beyond conventional biopedagogical interventions that send moralizing messages about what bodies should be, I theorize a 'becoming' pedagogy that moves away from enforcing norms toward more creative ways of expanding possibilities for what bodies could become. Because in our boundary-setting world this kind of imagining is considered the work of the artist and not within the purview of the social scientist, I turn to the arts and to aesthetic theory for insight and inspiration in this project. I discuss representations that focus on embodying and materializing change among individuals and groups so as to transform social scripts about body, ability, and normality

Aesthetics · Art · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Materialism · Scripting language · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Computer Science · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Empathy and Medical Education · Obesity and Health Practices · Philosophy