Slimming Down in Durham: Weight Loss and Control in the “Diet Capital of the World”

Keywords: feminist political geography, critical geographies of fatness, urban geography, weight loss, U.S. South
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 21

Abstract

This paper combines work in feminist political geography, critical geographies of fatness, and fat studies to examine the intersections between space, place, and anti-fatness. Following work in fat studies and disability studies, I analyze how anti-Blackness, classism, and ableism construct fat people as threats to the health and well-being of the nation. I theorize weight loss as a disciplining technology that works to “fix” this supposed threat by removing fat from the body and thus from the nation. Following work in feminist political geography and critical geographies of fatness, I understand the disciplinary nature of weight loss as an intimate technology of control that is embodied and deeply spatialized. In this paper, I trace the history of Durham, North Carolina’s diet industry and its reputation as the “Diet Capital of the World’ to analyze how a city gets made into a dieting capital. Through archival work, I examine how Durham’s expansive network of weight loss facilities, fitness centers, and diet restaurants create what I call a “dieting landscape” where fat people’s bodies are controlled and disciplined throughout the city. As such, I investigate how Durham gets made into a place for dieting and disciplining the fat body. This paper tends to the spatiality of anti-fatness and the role of anti-fatness in creating urban landscapes that work to control fat people and their bodies. Ultimately, I expand our understanding of the intimacies between space, place, and anti-fatness as they manifest in the “Diet Capital of the World.”