City to host global fat studies conference

Palmerston North lecturer and fat activist Cat Pause is hosting a global fat studies conference in the city.

Dr Cat Pause, a senior lecturer at Massey University, said the conference had attracted at least 70 registrations globally and about 30 people will attend in person when it takes place this week.

It is thought to be the only conference of its kind to be held worldwide this year.

Fat studies is a small postdiciplinary field of study confronting and caretaking notions of fatness. It also looks at society’s views on fatness, oppression and how it has manifested in society’s institutions.

The conference has two keynote speakers; photo activist and fat activist Substantia Jones, and Marymount Manhattan College associate dean for academic affairs Kathleen Lebesco.

Pause said the field did not start in the same place as obesity research.

‘‘I liken it to be quite like women’s studies, Maori studies or queer studies,’’ she said.

The field of research bridges many different cultural and societal disciplines.

One of the things that was missing from cultural research and study was the views of fat people, Pause said.

There were lots of conversations about obesity in society, but ‘‘very rarely’’ were fat people part of those conversations.

Although Pause hosts a podcast and radio show that take an activist stance, the conference and area of study were more objective.

All 18 speakers participating in the conference came from different backgrounds, including American, women’s and gender studies, she said.

‘‘We’ve got speakers coming from seven different countries.

‘‘There’s a lot of people around the world that want to come, but can’t come to New Zealand.’’

The conference will be live streamed to all those who have registered, and could be rewatched for the next 12 months.

Before arriving in Palmerston North, Jones was travelling the country photographing 30 overweight nude New Zealanders.

Jones has attracted news coverage from The New York Times, Vice News, The Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post for her work celebrating fat.

Her exhibition, The Adipositivity Project, will appear at Te Manawa Museum from July 1, showcasing some of the thousands of images of fat people she has taken in her career.

The two-day conference will kick off with a spoken word event, Fat Out Loud, on Tuesday from 6pm at the Palmerston North City Library.