Metamorphoses of Fat - A History of Obesity

One of the world's top historians of the body, Georges Vigarello maps the evolution of Western ideas about fat and fat people from the Middle Ages to today, paying particular attention to the role of science, fashion, fitness crazes, and public health campaigns in shaping these views. While hefty bodies were once a sign of power, today those who struggle to lose weight are considered poor in character and weak in mind. Vigarello traces the eventual equation of fatness with infirmity and the way we have come to define ourselves and others in terms of body type.

List of contents

About the author

Georges Vigarello is research director at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He has published prolifically on topics ranging from Concepts of Cleanliness: Changing Attitudes in France Since the Middle Ages and the cultural history of sports to The History of Rape: Sexual Violence in France from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century and The History of the Body: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. C. Jon Delogu is professeur des universités in the Department of English at the Université Jean Moulin, Lyon 3 in France. He has also taught at Boston University, Connecticut College, Dartmouth College, Hampshire College, and the University of Southern Maine. This is his fifth translation for Columbia University Press

Summary

Tracing the link between changing attitudes toward body size and modern conceptions of class, society, and self.

Product details

• Authors: George Vigarello, Georges Vigarello, Georges/ Delogu Vigarello, Vigarello Georges
• Assisted by: C. Jon Delogu (Translation), Delogu C. Jon (Translation)
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2013
• EAN: 9780231159760
• ISBN: 978-0-231-15976-0
• No. of pages: 296
• Series: European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism; European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; Cultural Studies, Anthropology, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social and cultural history, Ethical issues & debates, Ethical issues and debates, Obesity: Treatment & Therapy, Obesity: treatment and therapy, MEDICAL / Bariatrics, anthropology; disease; health issues