Critical Bodies

SARAH RILEY is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bath, UK. Her research is concerned with the areas of identities and research methods. Her identity work draws on social constructionism and post structuralism and has included the topics of masculinity, body art and body management practices. She is the principle investigator for an ESRC project 'Reverberating Rhythms: Social Identity and Political Participation in Clubland' and has published in the area of recreation/dance drug use. Her research methods work has focused on visual methods and reflexivity. MAREE BURNS is the coord

• Introducing Critical Bodies: Representations, Practices and Identities of Weight and Body Management; P.Markula , M.Burns & S.Riley SECTION 1: Representations and Constructions of Body Weight and Body Management; S.Wiggins Deconstructing Un/healthy Body Weight and Weight Management; H.Malson 'I Feel Ridiculous About Having Had It': Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders; P.Saukko Learning to be Healthy, Dying to be Thin: The Representation of Weight Via Body Perfection Codes in Schools; E.Rich, & J.Evans SECTION 2: Constructing Embodied Identities; H.Frith Starving in Cyberspace: The Construction of Identity on 'Pro-eating-disorder' Websites; K.Day & T.Keys Body Talk: Negotiating Body Image and Masculinity; R.Gill Feminist Object Relations Theory and Eating 'Disorders'; C.Heenan SECTION 3: Meanings of Body Management Practices: Women's Experiences; P.Markula Dis/Orders of Weight Control: Bulimic and/or 'Healthy Weight' Practices; M.Burns & N.Gavey Sustaining Imbalance - Evidence of Neglect in the Pursuit of Nutritional Health; L.Aphramor & J.Gingras Older and Younger Women's Experiences of Commercial Weight Loss; D.Gimlin Critical Bodies: Discourses of Health, Gender and Consumption; S.Riley , H. Frith ,  S.Wiggins, P.Markula & M.Burns

'The book demonstrates the persuasive power that inter- and multi-disciplinary discursive research can have when different versions are brought coherently to bear on an interconnected area of research. It will be of use to all researchers, and advanced students, who are interested in food, gender, the body, and, in particular, their pathologization under a medical gaze.' - Joseph Burridge, Discourse& Society 'The editorial group have successfully pulled together a coherent and diverse collection of nine chapters that offer a considerable breadth of material in relation to the, mainly but not exclusively, female body. Size, weight and the practices which produce and reproduce normative and rigid standards of desirable bodies are the central concerns.' - Liz Frost, Sociology of Health and Illness 'Critical Bodies is a well-structured text that presents a set of sophisticated, contemporary analyses of representations, identities and practices of weight and body management. The book contextualises body management practices in current health and gender related discourses, and provides a convincing account of the centrality of socio-political power dynamics in the production of embodiment.' - Lilliana del Busso, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology