Diet Culture and Counterculture - by Natalie Jovanovski (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This book is the first of its kind to explore how women challenge the powerful sociocultural and gendered phenomenon of diet culture across the broad anti-diet movement and beyond. Showcasing the voices of over 150 everyday women, activists, and health professionals across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, the author provides new insight into anti-diet practices while giving agency for women who remain main targets of diet culture. Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus as a novel starting point to develop a concept of the diet habitus, the author explores the possibility of a fragmented but unified diet counterculture. Drawing on feminist perspectives from women's and fat liberation movements, the author demonstrates that women's anti-diet practices are grounded in a combination of self and society; one that has the power to significantly re-shape the broad landscape of food and eating for women. This international book appeals to scholars, students, activists and health professionals interested in the intersections of the sociology of the body, fat studies, sociology of food and nutrition, social movements, health sociology, and women's studies.

From the Back Cover

Natalie Jovanovski is Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences and Social Equity Research Centre (SERC) at RMIT University, Australia. She is also an Honorary Fellow in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne, Australia. As a health sociologist, Natalie's research explores the sociocultural factors that shape people's relationships with food, eating and their bodies, especially women. Her first book, Digesting Femininities: The Feminist Politics of Contemporary Food Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), won the TASA Raewyn Connell Prize in 2018.

This book is the first of its kind to explore how women challenge the powerful sociocultural and gendered phenomenon of diet culture across the broad anti-diet movement and beyond. Showcasing the voices of over 150 everyday women, activists, and health professionals across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, the author provides new insight into anti-diet practices while giving agency for women who remain main targets of diet culture. Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus as a novel starting point to develop a concept of the diet habitus, the author explores the possibility of a fragmented but unified diet counterculture. Drawing on feminist perspectives from women's and fat liberation movements, the author demonstrates that women's anti-diet practices are grounded in a combination of self and society; one that has the power to significantly re-shape the broad landscape of food and eating for women. This international book appeals to scholars, students, activists and health professionals interested in the intersections of the sociology of the body, fat studies, sociology of food and nutrition, social movements, health sociology, and women's studies.

About the Author

Natalie Jovanovski is Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences and Social Equity Research Centre (SERC) at RMIT University, Australia. She is also an Honorary Fellow in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne, Australia. As a health sociologist, Natalie's research explores the sociocultural factors that shape people's relationships with food, eating and their bodies, especially women. Her first book, Digesting Femininities: The Feminist Politics of Contemporary Food Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), won the TASA Raewyn Connell Prize in 2018.