Melanie A Dean
Biographic Data
| ID | 226393 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melanie A Dean |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melanie A |
| FAMILY NAME | Dean |
| SIGNATURE | DEAN M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgetown University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5106-2485 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Turning Down Mum's Cooking
Although food ethicists have called for greater attention to the relational context of eating for over a decade, the context of ‘eating with family’ remains largely ignored. But the family is both a morally specific relational context and one within which many people do most of their eating. In this article, I shed light on the ethical complexities of eating with family through an analysis of the tensions arising when some family members eat diff…
A (partial) defense of food rules
Smuggled Doughnuts and Forbidden Fried Chicken
It is a common practice for family members to bring food to hospitalized loved ones. However, in some cases, this food contravenes a patient's dietary plan. Such situations can create significant tension and distrust between health care professionals and families and may lead the former to doubt a family's willingness or ability to support patient recovery. This case‐study essay offers an ethical analysis of these situations. We draw on Hilde Lin…
The “Worst Dinner Guest Ever”
In 2012, a Venn diagram appeared on the blog The Kitchn detailing the characteristics of what it called the “worst dinner guest ever.” This maligned guest is not only vegan but also gluten and lactose intolerant and allergic to nuts and eggs. While a few commenters agreed with the implication that dietary constraints indicate a failure of appropriate guest behavior, most echoed what Lisa Heldke and Raymond Boisvert (2016) suggest is the dominant …
Time to Eat
Lack of time is a commonly reported barrier to healthy eating, but a literal lack of time is only one way that time may compromise eating well. This article explores how the first-personal lived experience of time shapes and is shaped by eating. I draw upon phenomenology and feminist theory to argue that the dynamic relationship between eating and temporality matters for food ethics. Specifically, temporalities and related ways of eating can be b…
Reflection on Feminist Bioethics and the Pandemic
"Reflection on Feminist Bioethics and the Pandemic." IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 15(1), pp. 98–99
Covert administration of medication in food
The covert administration of medication occurs with incapacitated patients without their knowledge, involving some form of deliberate deception in disguising or hiding the medication. Covert medication in food is a relatively common practice globally, including in institutional and homecare contexts. Until recently, it has received little attention in the bioethics literature, and there are few laws or rules governing the practice. In this paper,…
Queer Phenomenology, Sexual Orientation, and Health Care Spaces
Queer phenomenology as an interpretive framework can advance health research by illuminating why primary health care providers (HCPs) must move beyond definitions of sexuality as a set of reified identity formations indexed to normative gender, gender of partner, and sexual and reproductive practices. Our interviews with queer women participants and primary care nurses offer an implicit critique of heteronormative health care space, temporality, …
You Are How You Eat? Femininity, Normalization, and Veganism as an Ethical Practice of Freedom
In this paper I argue that the practice of veganism is, or can be, a Foucauldian ethical practice of freedom. I begin by sketching out the problematization of alimentary practices within a normalizing patriarchal framework, which some feminists argue is dominant within contemporary North American society. Within this problematization, eating—for many women—is a way to manage the body’s appearance and bring it into conformity with feminine norms, …
On Fat Agency, Activism, and Academia Reviews of Fat
Desire, Youth, and Realism in Tamil Cinema
This article first examines representations of women's desire in Tamil cinema, from highly implicit and non-transgressive representations of desire in an older movie to linguistically explicit and transgressive representations of desire in a recent hit movie. We then examine how such contemporary filmic representations are related to what we call a mode of realist spectatorship, and how this mode of spectatorship is linked to a particular social …
Desire, Youth, and Realism in Tamil Cinema
This article first examines representations of women's desire in Tamil cinema, from highly implicit and non-transgressive representations of desire in an older movie to linguistically explicit and transgressive representations of desire in a recent hit movie. We then examine how such contemporary filmic representations are related to what we call a mode of realist spectatorship, and how this mode of spectatorship is linked to a particular social …
You Are How You Eat? Femininity, Normalization, and Veganism as an Ethical Practice of Freedom
In this paper I argue that the practice of veganism is, or can be, a Foucauldian ethical practice of freedom. I begin by sketching out the problematization of alimentary practices within a normalizing patriarchal framework, which some feminists argue is dominant within contemporary North American society. Within this problematization, eating—for many women—is a way to manage the body’s appearance and bring it into conformity with feminine norms, …
Queer Phenomenology, Sexual Orientation, and Health Care Spaces
Queer phenomenology as an interpretive framework can advance health research by illuminating why primary health care providers (HCPs) must move beyond definitions of sexuality as a set of reified identity formations indexed to normative gender, gender of partner, and sexual and reproductive practices. Our interviews with queer women participants and primary care nurses offer an implicit critique of heteronormative health care space, temporality, …
Desire, Youth, and Realism in Tamil Cinema
This article first examines representations of women's desire in Tamil cinema, from highly implicit and non-transgressive representations of desire in an older movie to linguistically explicit and transgressive representations of desire in a recent hit movie. We then examine how such contemporary filmic representations are related to what we call a mode of realist spectatorship, and how this mode of spectatorship is linked to a particular social …
On Fat Agency, Activism, and Academia Reviews of Fat
You Are How You Eat? Femininity, Normalization, and Veganism as an Ethical Practice of Freedom
In this paper I argue that the practice of veganism is, or can be, a Foucauldian ethical practice of freedom. I begin by sketching out the problematization of alimentary practices within a normalizing patriarchal framework, which some feminists argue is dominant within contemporary North American society. Within this problematization, eating—for many women—is a way to manage the body’s appearance and bring it into conformity with feminine norms, …
Queer Phenomenology, Sexual Orientation, and Health Care Spaces
Queer phenomenology as an interpretive framework can advance health research by illuminating why primary health care providers (HCPs) must move beyond definitions of sexuality as a set of reified identity formations indexed to normative gender, gender of partner, and sexual and reproductive practices. Our interviews with queer women participants and primary care nurses offer an implicit critique of heteronormative health care space, temporality, …
Covert administration of medication in food
The covert administration of medication occurs with incapacitated patients without their knowledge, involving some form of deliberate deception in disguising or hiding the medication. Covert medication in food is a relatively common practice globally, including in institutional and homecare contexts. Until recently, it has received little attention in the bioethics literature, and there are few laws or rules governing the practice. In this paper,…
The “Worst Dinner Guest Ever”
In 2012, a Venn diagram appeared on the blog The Kitchn detailing the characteristics of what it called the “worst dinner guest ever.” This maligned guest is not only vegan but also gluten and lactose intolerant and allergic to nuts and eggs. While a few commenters agreed with the implication that dietary constraints indicate a failure of appropriate guest behavior, most echoed what Lisa Heldke and Raymond Boisvert (2016) suggest is the dominant …
Time to Eat
Lack of time is a commonly reported barrier to healthy eating, but a literal lack of time is only one way that time may compromise eating well. This article explores how the first-personal lived experience of time shapes and is shaped by eating. I draw upon phenomenology and feminist theory to argue that the dynamic relationship between eating and temporality matters for food ethics. Specifically, temporalities and related ways of eating can be b…
Reflection on Feminist Bioethics and the Pandemic
"Reflection on Feminist Bioethics and the Pandemic." IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 15(1), pp. 98–99
Smuggled Doughnuts and Forbidden Fried Chicken
It is a common practice for family members to bring food to hospitalized loved ones. However, in some cases, this food contravenes a patient's dietary plan. Such situations can create significant tension and distrust between health care professionals and families and may lead the former to doubt a family's willingness or ability to support patient recovery. This case‐study essay offers an ethical analysis of these situations. We draw on Hilde Lin…
A (partial) defense of food rules
Turning Down Mum's Cooking
Although food ethicists have called for greater attention to the relational context of eating for over a decade, the context of ‘eating with family’ remains largely ignored. But the family is both a morally specific relational context and one within which many people do most of their eating. In this article, I shed light on the ethical complexities of eating with family through an analysis of the tensions arising when some family members eat diff…
Political science (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Obesity and Health Practices (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Culinary Culture and Tourism (3 works)