Fat Studies scholars and activists from around the world celebrated the launch of The International Handbook of Fat Studies on 19 April 2021 via a global Zoom event.
The Handbook, published by Routledge, features a diverse body of work from around the globe and across a wide range of Fat Studies topics and perspectives.
Comprised of 29 chapters, the book includes contributions from both academics and activists with the contributors working across industries in public health, social sciences, arts, law, medicine, and the physical sciences.
Editors of the book; Massey University Senior Lecturer Dr Cat Pausé and founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology Sonya Renee Taylor hosted the launch, speaking alongside fifteen of the contributing authors.
Editor Sonya Renee Taylor says this new book, the first of its kind, comes at a time of great upheaval in the world.
“Fat studies and fat activism sit at the precipice of an emerging world, one where fat bodies and their liberations cannot be disaggregated from the liberation of all oppressions.”
The book explores the epistemology, ontology and methodology of fatness, with attention to issues such as gender and sexuality, disability and embodiment, health, race, media, discrimination, and pedagogy.
Editor Cat Pausé noted, “we believe the work in this book invites the reader into a more nuanced and yet expansive landscape of fat scholarship.
“We also believe there is a necessary summons into the queries, harms, and hopes of fat lives beyond the too often foregrounded western narratives. We hope we fatten up your world.”
Due to the cost of the physical Handbook, the editors are suggesting people request that their local library order a copy to be accessed by those in the community. A more affordable digital copy of the Handbook is available and can be ordered from the publisher.