1st Edition

Biopolitics and the 'Obesity Epidemic' Governing Bodies

Edited By Jan Wright, Valerie Harwood Copyright 2009
    232 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    232 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ is the first edited collection of critical perspectives on the 'obesity epidemic.' The volume provides a comprehensive discussion of current issues in the critical analysis of health, obesity and society, and the impact of obesity discourses on different individuals, social groups and institutions. Contributors from the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia provide original, accessible, and engaging chapters on issues such as the effects on individuals, families, youths and schools. The timely contributions offered by Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ to this highly topical area will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including teachers, education professionals, community health and allied professionals, and academics in areas such as education, health, youth studies, social work and psychology.

    Part I: Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’  1. Bio-power, Biopedagogies and the Obesity Epidemic  Jan Wright  2. Theorizing Biopedagogies  Valerie Harwood  3. Friends, Enemies and the Cultural Politics of Critical Obesity Research  Michael Gard  4. Bio-Citizenship: Virtue Discourses and the Birth of the Bio-Citizen  Christine Halse  5. Doctor’s Orders: Diagnosis, Medical Authority and the Exploitation of the Fat Body Annemarie Jutel  6. Marked as ‘Pathological’: Fat Bodies as Virtual Confessors Samantha Murray  Part II: Governing Young People: Schools Families and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’  7. An Impossible Task? Preventing Disordered Eating in the Context of the Current Obesity Panic  Natalie Beausoleil  8. Governing Healthy Family Lifestyles through Discourses of Risk and Responsibility  Simone Fullagar  9. Pedagogizing Families through Obesity Discourse  Lisette Burrows  10. Canadian Youth’s Discursive Constructions of the Body and Health  Genevieve Rail  11. Performative Health in Schools: Welfare Policy, Neoliberalism and Social Regulation?  Emma Rich and John Evans  12. Disgusting Pedagogies  Deana Leahy  13. The Rise of Corporate Curriculum: Fatness, Fitness, and Whiteness  Laura Azzarito  Part III: Commentary  14. Biopedagogies and Beyond Valerie Walkerdine

    Biography

    Valerie Harwood is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong. Her recently published book Diagnosing ‘Disorderly’ Children (2006, Routledge) came runner-up in the prestigious National Association of Special Needs in Education/Times Educational Supplement Academic Book Award, 2006.

    Jan Wright is Professor of Education and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong. She is co-editor of Body Knowledge and Control and Critical Inquiry and Problem Solving in Physical Education (Routledge 2004) and co-author with Michael Gard of The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Ideology and Morality (Routledge, 2005).