An upcoming class at the University of Maryland will have students consider how “fatness” relates to “blackness” and is a “social justice issue.”
“Introduction to Fat Studies: Fat, Blackness, and Their Intersection” provided as a general education course for students in the spring semester. The three-credit course can be taken to satisfy the university's distribution studies or diversity course requirements for graduation, according to the university's website.
The course description says, “We will examine obesity as an area of human difference subject to privilege and discrimination that intersects with other systems of oppression based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and ability.” are.
“While we look at obesity as intersectional, this course will specifically focus on the relationship between obesity and Black people,” the description continues. “We approach this area of research through an interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences lens that emphasizes obesity as a social justice issue. This course focuses on fat liberation as a liberation for all bodies. It concludes with a review, with a particular focus on performing arts and activism.'' ”
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The University of Maryland will offer a “fat studies” course for students this semester. (St. Petersburg)
The course is taught by Sidney Lewis, who is a senior lecturer in the university's Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. University biography.
All 20 spots in the class are filled and eight students are on the waiting list.
The course received criticism from a retired professor at a nearby university. Richard Watts, professor emeritus at Towson University, scoffed at the idea that the subject prepared students for the real world, commenting: national news desk.
“If you went to a job interview and the interviewer asked you, 'What have you done lately?' I wouldn't think so.”Then the respondent would say, “Well, I did a course in fat studies. We're taking it, but it's the intersection of black and fat,' and this allows you to get a lot of jobs, so this and the job market is probably pretty questionable,'' Vats said.
“To be honest, this is kind of a funny, funny topic,” he continued. “This is completely ridiculous.”
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A University of Maryland course argues that “fat” and “blackness” intersect and can be viewed through a social justice lens. (St. Petersburg)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the University of Maryland and Lewis University for comment.
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Over the summer, Brown University offered a pre-college summer course on “The Politics of Obesity,” giving students the opportunity to explore “how fatphobia intersects with other systems of oppression.”
