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Fitness & fatness

Fitness & fatness: Laurie Taylor asks if they are two sides of the same coin.

Fitness & fatness: Laurie Taylor asks if they are two sides of the same coin. He's joined by J眉rgen Martschukat, Professor of North American History at the University of Erfurt and author of a new book which looks at the history of self-optimisation from the Enlightenment to the present. What鈥檚 the relationship between neoliberalism and phenomena like Viagra & aerobics? How did the body come to symbolise success and achievement? Also, Sarah Trainer, medical anthropologist at Seattle University, discusses her study on extreme weight loss, via bariatric surgery. Her in depth interviews with patients reveal, in painstaking detail, how the journey to drastic weight - often half a person's body weight - can be at once painful and liberating, revealing which bodies are treated as though they don't belong in modern societies. Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with the Open University.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Mon 24 May 2021 00:15

Guests and Further Reading

The Age of Fitness: How the Body Came to Symbolize Success and Achievement (Polity Books)


Extreme Weight Loss: Life Before and After Bariatric Surgery by Sarah Trainer, Alexandra Brewis and Amber Wutich (NYU Press)


Broadcasts

  • Wed 19 May 2021 16:00
  • Mon 24 May 2021 00:15

Explore further with The Open University

大象传媒 Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

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