Guest Editors:
- Dr Louise Mansfield Brunel University London (UK), louise.mansfield@brunel.ac.uk
- Dr Emma Rich University of Bath (UK), e.rich@bath.ac.uk
This special issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society will examine issues of fat and physical activity. Globally, there is an established weight-centric approach to policy-making about physical activity. Physical activity is promoted as a panacea to the pathologized problems of “obesity” and “overweight.” Yet there are examples of more inclusive forms of embodied movement and physical activity which challenge these imperatives. The guest editors invite manuscripts which engage with theoretical, methodological and political frameworks that challenge moralised obligations towards physical activity as a means of achieving health through weight loss.
This special issue invites contributions across a range of disciplines and methodological and theoretical approaches within fat studies that pursue questions advancing knowledge about physical activity, fat, health and wellbeing. It will also highlight work that can support the development of better informed, more inclusive and appropriate physical activity policy, pedagogies and practice for fat people. Papers which address the failure in most physical activity literature to recognise and understand the experiences of fat people in becoming and being physically active are invited.
Potential topics might include, but are not limited to:
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- Historical representations of fat and physical activity
- Fat subjectivity and physical activity
- Fat, stigma and ‘athletic’ cultures
- Fat activism in sport, leisure and recreation – How sites of physical activity contest and resist normative notions of fat
- The anti-fat ethic and the promotion of physical activity
- “Obesity science” and the prescription of exercise
- Innovative and inclusive physical activity programmes
- Fat, physical activity and affect
- Fat pedagogy and physical activity
- Intersections of space/place and fat identities
- Emerging theoretical and critical approaches to understanding physical activity and fat (e.g. posthumanism, new materialism)
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To submit a proposal for inclusion in this special issue of the journal, please send a 250-500 word summary of your article to Louise Mansfield (louise.mansfield@brunel.ac.uk) by 1st September 2017. Any questions about the special issue can be directed to this email address as well.
Draft manuscripts will be required by 1st December 2017 for the review process. Submissions should be between 3,000 and 6,000 words (10-15 pages, size 12 font, double spaced), including all notes and references.
Reproductions of visual images will require permission from the artists/ copyright holders of the image(s). All authors will need to sign a form that transfers copyright of their article to the publisher, Taylor & Francis/ Routledge.
Fat Studies is the first academic journal in the field of scholarship that critically examines theory, research, practices, and programs related to body weight and appearance. Content includes original research and overviews exploring the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, and socioeconomic status. Articles critically examine representations of fat in health and medical sciences, the Health at Every Size model, the pharmaceutical industry, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, legal issues, literature, pedagogy, art, theater, popular culture, media studies, and activism.
Fat Studies is an interdisciplinary, international field of scholarship that critically examines societal attitudes and practices about body weight and appearance. Fat Studies advocates equality for all people regardless of body size. It explores the way fat people are oppressed, the reasons why, who benefits from that oppression and how to liberate fat people from oppression. Fat Studies seeks to challenge and remove the negative associations that society has about fat and the fat body. It regards weight, like height, as a human characteristic that varies widely across any population. Fat Studies is similar to academic disciplines that focus on race, ethnicity, gender, or age.
