Natalie Egan ne292@cam.ac.uk
UK
MRC Epidemiology Unit, Magdalene College
PhD thesis: The social construction of weight-centred health paradigm
Research interests:
1. Critical obesity studies
2. The social studies of science
3. Epistemic injustice
Musings over the relationship between weight and health can be found in medical literature as far back as Hippocrates, but in the last 100 years these two concepts have been paired and studied relentlessly in the medical and public health sciences. This rising intellectual interest in weight and health is commonly attributed as a response to the “obesity epidemic” and associated problems, such as broken food systems and limited physical activity access globally. Preventing and treating obesity is often justified by the medical science community as an important means to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. Yet, this pervasive intellectual interest in weight and health has also occurred within a sociocultural context that highly values slimness on an aesthetic and moral level, at the expense of people in larger bodies. In recent decades, activists and critical scholars have offered a range of critiques of the weight-centred health paradigm that explicate the ethical and value-laden implications of conducting medical research through this lens. In my PhD research I will contribute to these critical perspectives by adopting a range of social science methods to interrogate the weight-centred health paradigm in a contemporary context.
Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?
I was inspired by two things; the commitment from my research group to improve health equity across the population, and by members of Fat Activist communities who have historically critiqued the way people think about weight and health.