FYI.

Call for Proposals: Special Issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society

Issue topic: The spatiality of  fatness

Guest Editor: Caché Owens-Velásquez, University of New Hampshire.

Email: cache.owens@unh.edu

Deadline for 250-500 word proposals: August 31, 2000

This special issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society will analyze the spatiality of fatness. This special issue focuses on the intersections of space/place and fatness. Submissions would analyze fatness through the lens of physical space, applying geographic thought to critically examine how fatness is treated across spatial contexts. Examinations of fat geographies have largely focused on the relationship between the built environment and the “obesity epidemic”. Conversely, this special issue is interested in studying the characteristics and evolution of spaces that result in the creation of fat friendly or fat hostile spaces through the normative lens of fat liberation. Papers in this special issue could borrow from literature in place-making, urban planning, spatial justice, public transportation, hospitality, business, and other disciplines.

This special issue invites papers that address the concept of the spatiality of fatness. Potential topics might include, but are not limited to:

• Experiences of fatness across nations
• Fat positive urban design and planning
• Intersections of fat activism and spatial justice
• Useful methodologies for examining fatness through a spatial lens
• Theoretical frameworks related to geography of fatness
• Critical reflections on space and place constructions and their impact on fat bodies

To submit a proposal for inclusion in this special issue of the journal, please send a 250-500 word summary of your article as well as a current CV to Caché Owens-Velasquez, at cache.owens@unh.edu by August 31, 2020. Any questions about the special issue can be directed to this email address as well.

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.