Obesity, Eating Disorders and the Media

Karin Eli is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford, UK. Stanley Ulijaszek is Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity and of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford, UK. He is co-editor of Insecurity, Inequality, and Obesity in Affluent Societies; The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Growth and Development; Health Change in the Asia-Pacific Region; and Holistic Anthropology: Emergence and Convergence, and editor of Health Intervention in Less Developed Nations.

• Preface; Chapter 1 Introduction: Obesity, Eating Disorders and the Media, Karin Eli, Stanley Ulijaszek; Part I Rhetorics of Abjection and Alarm; Chapter 2 Alarming Engagements? Exploring Pro-Anorexia Websites in/and the Media, Anna Lavis; Chapter 3 Obesity in the US Media, 1990–2011: Broad Strokes, Broad Consequences, Natalie C. Boero; Chapter 4 Invisible Fat: The Aesthetics of Food and the Body, Pino Donghi, Josephine Wennerholm; Chapter 5 From Abject Eating to Abject Being: Representations of Obesity in ‘Supersize vs. Superskinny’, Karin Eli, Anna Lavis; Part II Representations of Science and Policy; Chapter 6 Mothers as Smoking Guns: Fetal Overnutrition and the Reproduction of Obesity, Megan Warin, Tanya Zivkovic, Vivienne Moore, Michael Davies; Chapter 7 Eating Disorders in the Media: The Changing Nature of UK Newspaper Reports, Emily Shepherd, Clive Seale; Chapter 8 Making the ‘Obesity Epidemic’: The Role of Science and the News Media, Abigail C. Saguy, Rene Almeling; Chapter 9 Obesity, Government and the Media, Stanley Ulijaszek; Chapter 10 Heavy Viewing: Emergent Frames in Contemporary News Coverage of Obesity, Helene A. Shugart;

’This wide-ranging collection challenges the popular polarisation of obese and emaciated bodies and provokes critical reflection on the ways in which such bodies - and knowledge about them - are framed, constructed, mediated and mobilised. Materialities, discourse and lived experiences are masterfully drawn together in a dynamic discussion that traverses print, television and social media. The resulting account of the multiple entanglements between media, science, policy and practice is a must read for anyone concerned with this critical field of study.’ Emma-Jayne Abbots, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, UK ’This thoroughly researched, critically sensitive and timely collection of scholarly analyses of news media coverage of eating disorders and obesity exemplifies the value of investigating news as a key arena for wider struggles over the definition and responses to major social problems. This volume will be of great interest and value to students and scholars in the disciplines of media studies, cultural studies, health, and sociology, especially those who are investigating health issues and the media.’ Catriona Bonfiglioli, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia