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In this new edition of her accessible autoethnography of fat feminist activism in the West, Charlotte Cooper revisits and discusses her activism in the context of recent shifts in the movement. The new preface explores the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on fat people and fat activism and how Black Lives Matter is inspiring new forms of activism. Cooper issues a call to action in Fat Studies and offers alternatives to current public health approaches to Diabetes.
What is fat activism and why is it important? To answer this question, Charlotte Cooper presents an expansive grassroots study that traces the forty-year history of international fat activism and grounds its actions in their proper historical and geographical contexts. She details fat activist methods, analyses existing literature in the field, challenges long-held assumptions that uphold systemic fatphobia, and makes clear how crucial feminism, queer theory and anti-racism are to the lifeblood of the movement. She also considers fat activism’s proxy concerns, including body image, body positivity, the obesity epidemic and fat stigma.
Combining rigorous scholarship with personal, accessible writing, Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement is a rare insider’s view of fat people speaking about their lives and politics on their own terms. This is the book you have been waiting for.
'Cooper's writing style is refreshingly accessible, in a conversational tone that will ensure this book manages to appeal to activist readerships well beyond the narrow scope of academia. [...] It will be of particular interest to feminist scholars how Cooper manages to develop sharp critical analysis of what she identifies as problematic elements of the movement, including cultural imperialism, white supremacy, homogeneity and moralism, whilst still championing its value and necessity. The nuance with which Cooper navigates this thorny terrain is valuable for thinking about ongoing conflict within feminist debates on how we can reconcile the varied and often contradictory strands of past and present feminist thinking. [...] [The book's] contributions go well beyond the specificity of fat, making it a useful resource for anyone, inside or outside of academia, who is interested in activism, social movements, feminism and intersectionality.'
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Undoing
2. Doing
3. Locating
4. Travelling
5. Accessing
6. Queering
Bibliography
Index