FYI.
Indigenous(ly) Fat, Fat(ly) Indigenous
He kanohi kitea ka hoki ngā mahara is a well-known Māori whakataukī (proverb); it encapsulates one of the integral principles of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) and Kaupapa Māori (Māori philosophy, ways of being, knowing, seeing). It reiterates the importance of being seen, being present, and being remembered, it highlights the value of whakawhanaungatanga (good relationships), and of the ways we Indigenous Peoples relate to each other through presence. When considering this way of conceptualising the significance of (re)visibilisation, we seek to re-think and re-shape our Indigenous knowledge:
He tinana kitea ka hoki ngā mahara (a familiar body, a seen body, causes memories to flow, memories to stir)
Here, we re-conceptualise this notion of presence, relationality, and (re)visibilisation of our bodies.
We seek to explore the space of Indigenous fat studies, posing the question: What does Indigenous fat studies look like? Fatness is intersectionally experienced and, for those of us who occupy multiple identities that are minoritised, our experiences of navigating fatness are complex. We invite papers for a special issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society, on Indigenous(ly) Fat – Fat(ly) Indigenous. This special issue will encompass a variety of topics around the conceptualisation, actualisation, and embodiment of Indigenous fat studies and fat Indigeneity and what this may look like to us as Indigenous Peoples.
Welcome topics include but are not limited to:
- Developing Indigenous fat studies
- Indigenous experiences of fatness
- Indigenous languages of fatness
- The intersections of fatness, Indigeneity, queerness, disability, age, sexuality
- Shifts in fat social justice related to Indigenous sovereignty
- Being Indigenous and fat within social contexts (e.g., relationships, families, legal systems, health and medicine, employment, education, housing, religion, politics, media, etc.)
- What does fat Indigenous joy, hope, sovereignty, and reclamation look like?
- Being socially assigned as Indigenous and fat
- Bodily autonomy, boundary and bodily surveillance, and bodily transitions in the fight for fat Indigenous sovereignty
- Challenges, oppression, decolonising, and re-Indigenising fat Indigenous experiences and realities
- Flax-roots-Earth-roots Indigenous fat initiatives and socialisations
- Building and promoting solidarity for fat Indigeneity
- The state of legal protections for weight, body size, and shape
- The role of resilience, resistance, activism, relationships, and sovereignty for fat Indigenous Peoples
- Necessary intersections, solidarity, and allies in the context of fat Indigeneity (e.g., anti-racist, anti-sexist, etc)
- Art for fat Indigeneity
Abstract deadline: 1st October 2024
Manuscript deadline: 1st March 2025
More information: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/indigenously-fat-fatly-indigenous/