ANTH 343 - Food, Fat, and Fitness

4 credit(s)
The United States is a culture obsessed with food, fat, and fitness. As efforts to reduce obesity increase, rates of obesity actually increase. Why is that? This anthropology course depends heavily on interdisciplinary perspectives to explore the connections between body size and culture, examining food, fat, and fitness not just as public health issues but as culturally and historically constructed categories related to gender, race, sexuality, and class. While we will explore biocultural approaches to obesity, this course is not a biomedical study of the “obesity epidemic.” Instead we examine the discourses and vocabulary used to describe this current “crisis.” Also listed as GSS 343 and PH 343. Offered alternate years.

Core Requirement(s): Counts toward core requirement: Social Systems and Human Behavior.Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101, GSS 201, SOC 101, ANTH 140, SOC 217, or PH 101.