Government Support for Fat Studies and HAES in the UK

A series of Fat Studies and Health At Every Size events has won government funding in the UK.

Fat Studies and Health at Every Size: Bigness Beyond Obesity will feature four day-long seminars concerning discrimination, HAES in the clinic, fat activism, and researching fatness.

The objectives of the proposed seminar series are:

1. To critically question the political, social, cultural and economic structures within which dominant approaches to fatness are embedded and to explore the multiple experiences of fatness according to social identities (race/ethnicity, gender, class, age, sexuality etc.);

2. To explore multiple theoretical approaches to fatness beyond restrictive medical models of 'obesity' and 'overweight' (and the associated concepts of metabolic risk and nutritional well-being beyond restrictive models of energy balance);

3. To discuss the ethical and practical issues associated with different methodologies used in Fat Studies and Health at Every Size research;

4. To facilitate interdisciplinary discussion and networking between academics, activists and practitioners seeking to further non size-discriminatory approaches to health, particularly amongst postgraduates and early career researchers (both in the UK and internationally);

5.To disseminate the outcomes of the seminar series in both academic and popular arenas to counter the dominance of medical models of fatness in the UK.

Dr Bethan Evans of Manchester Metropolitan University instigated and drafted the application. She said:

"Given the power and pervasiveness of medical models of health and weight, it is often difficult for Fat Studies and HAES activists, researchers and practitioners to find the space to develop alternative ways of thinking about and working with/as fat bodies.

Fat Studies and HAES have historically developed from different disciplinary backgrounds (Fat Studies associated with Women's Studies, and HAES within the health sciences), but they each offer important perspectives and the intersections between these two approaches may offer productive alternatives to the dominant medical model.

This seminar series is therefore important in providing supportive space for scholars, activists and practitioners to discuss the development of these approaches."

The seminar series will run 2010-2011, the four seminars will take place in Durham, Coventry, Warwick and Manchester, and will be convened by a team that includes Shirlene Badger, University of Cambridge; Dr Karen Throsby, University of Warwick; Dr Rachel Colls, Durham University; Dr Emma Rich, Loughborough University; Lucy Aphramor, Coventry University; and Dr Lee Monaghan and I from the University of Limerick. The seminars will involve international participants and will be open to people outside academia.

Fat Studies and Health at Every Size: Bigness Beyond Obesity has been funded by The Economic and Social Research Council, which supports research in the social sciences in the UK. The ESRC is itself funded by the British government's Department of Trade and Industry's Office of Science and Innovation.

Making a nuisance of yourselves

Bored with your life? Long and lazy summer ahead? Looking for fun and adventure? Why not try some fat activist civil disobedience? Seeworthy and her pals show you how in This book lies (guerrilla fat activism!). Fun, eh?

We're in Diva

Bill Savage and I are in this month's Diva magazine, talking about our mutual admiration for each other, life in the academy, breaking chairs and Chubsterhood.

Get a copy at the usual lesbo mag outlets, although Diva is a British publication I believe it is also available in the US and in other countries too. And don't forget to let the editors know how much you love seeing a pair of rad fatties in their mag.

Pic by Lezli+Rose

HAES UK is launching today!

An independent non-profit based in the UK, the group is open to all who support its mission, which entails a HAES (Health At Every Size) approach to healthcare, policy and research. HAES UK seeks to challenge weight-based discrimination, which they see as disrespectful and harmful to individual and community well-being.

HAES UK is committed to the following aims:

To examine and publish scientific evidence supporting non-weight-based approaches to healthcare.
To promote an accurate Health at Every Size (HAES) approach.
To highlight and challenge weight-based discrimination in all areas of social life.

http://www.healthateverysize.org.uk

Small Projects Across The Land*

* Including international projects too, perhaps!

This is too good to miss: NOLOSE are offering small grants of $1000 to do local fat queer activist events. Is this the most fantastic organisation in the world, or what? Deadline is soon, details are on the NOLOSE site. Submit a proposal and see what happens!