Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight & Society (Web); Guest Editors: Stefanie Snider, Kendall College of Art and Design; Jason Whitesel, Illinois State University

Proposals by: 01.09.2019

As Charlotte Cooper (2016) has written in her book Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement, fat activism in its many forms showcases the “vitality of embodied community knowledge” and “is grounded in a long-term struggle for social change” (HammerOn Press, p.7). This special issue of Fat Studies seeks to offer a fresh, interdisciplinary look at fat activism-in-flux, building on the rich past of the last several decades and signaling the approach of a new wave of the movement(s).

Submissions might engage with cutting-edge fat political projects, coming up with new ways to imagine the future of fat people; and/or they might look at the forerunners, events, and activities engaging with fat activist tenets. The editors also seek critiques of fat activism that offer new directions and new inroads for involvement, identifying areas hitherto unpenetrated by fat activism, with new opportunities for social transformation. Where does the current state of fat activism fall short? What could a fat-activist-inspired future look like?

To this end, the editors are seeking pieces on fat activism as encountered and created both inside and outside the academy; we recognize the tenuous and often ambiguous boundaries between activism and academia as well as between grassroots, radical movements, and legal/policy-based social change. As two white and queer – one fat and one thin – activist-scholars situated within the university, the editors … read more and source (Web)