ENG 376 - Representing Fat Bodies

Lushly enfleshed in America and want favorable representation? Fat chance. Indeed, not only is there social stigma, but pathologizing fat is central to the mission of pharmaceutical companies, the medical-industrial complex, and the diet and weight loss industry. Constructions of fat also intersect with gender, race, sexuality, age, class, and disability in ways that have been used to further regulate and oppress. Body positivity, while ostensibly a corrective, can itself fall prey to its own hierarchies. What to do? Using the theoretical frameworks of disability studies and fat studies, this class will examine cultural, visual, and literary representations of fat bodies to ask: what beliefs does fatphobia inscribe, both about and beyond the fat body? How have writers, artists, and performers both created and challenged these ideas? Possible texts will range from Sander Gilman’s Fat Boys to Sarai Walker’s Dietland, from Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale to the music of Lizzo, and from Roxane Gay’s Hunger to the Maintenance Phase podcast.
 

Satisfies English major requirement.
Satisfies a requirement for the Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor.
Satisfies Public Health major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Literary Studies, Creative Writing and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.