FRAMING FATNESS: GENDER, SIZE, CONSTRUCTING HEALTH
Explores various aspects of identity politics and body politics such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and citizenship status as they relate to and intersect with body size and constructions of fatness. Situates how fatness has been conceptualized over time, the formation of the gendered body ideals, and the proliferation of obesity rhetoric. Investigates how fat individuals experience the social world, in particular related to arenas such as the American health care system, and other societal institutions such as education, social welfare, immigration, and media. Interrogates how the "obesity epidemic" came to be, how it is framed in the United States, and how it intersects with other systems like big pharma, the food industry, beauty industry, globalization, neoliberalism, and consumerism. Deploys a critical approach in understanding fatness and body size as dimensions of difference that inform experiences of privilege and oppression.
Prerequisites & course information
Requisites: Sophomore standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Social & Behavioral Science Breadth - Social Science Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Critically analyze and provide concrete examples of how fatness has been socially constructed in various institutions such as healthcare, medicine, beauty, and media, and how the meanings of fatness have changed over time and across identities (gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, etc.) Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Articulate various theoretical frameworks (fat studies, feminist theories, disability studies, queer theory, etc.) as they relate to fatness, embodiment, gender, and discrimination, and use them in application of concrete ideas Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Think, observe, and write critically and analytically and engage thoughtfully in analytic (rather than simply opinionated!) discussions Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Understand and engage in the process of conducting a literature review and complete a clear, well organized, and thoughtful academic paper or presentation that explores a particular area of scholarship related to fat embodiment Audience: Undergraduate 5. Conduct a literature review and complete a clear, well organized, and thoughtful academic paper or presentation around their graduate research, at the intersection of their own disciplinary areas of interest and the course content Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Critically analyze and provide concrete examples of how fatness has been socially constructed in various institutions such as healthcare, medicine, beauty, and media, and how the meanings of fatness have changed over time and across identities (gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, etc.) Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Articulate various theoretical frameworks (fat studies, feminist theories, disability studies, queer theory, etc.) as they relate to fatness, embodiment, gender, and discrimination, and use them in application of concrete ideas Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Think, observe, and write critically and analytically and engage thoughtfully in analytic (rather than simply opinionated!) discussions Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Understand and engage in the process of conducting a literature review and complete a clear, well organized, and thoughtful academic paper or presentation that explores a particular area of scholarship related to fat embodiment Audience: Undergraduate 5. Conduct a literature review and complete a clear, well organized, and thoughtful academic paper or presentation around their graduate research, at the intersection of their own disciplinary areas of interest and the course content Audience: Graduate
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027