Masters Thesis

The archaeology of obesity: discourse analysis and implications for North American obesity research

This thesis uses an archaeological analysis to transcend the medicalized and moralized discourses surrounding obesity while advancing knowledge on the stigmatization of fat. Archaeological analysis of obesity includes analysis of body mass estimation techniques, associated skeletal pathologies, and visual representations of fat and obese bodies. Two case studies that focus on associated pathologies in Pre-Columbian North America include Smith and colleagues’ identification of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in Tennessee and Mulhern and colleagues’ analysis of hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI) in New Mexico. Future studies on these samples should incorporate body mass and stature estimation in order to analyze the variation in body size within these populations. The application of critical discourse analysis will also inform how societal discourses influence perceptions on body size and fatness, and this methodology also aids in identifying the problematic social injustices that result from the biased perspectives of academic scholars.

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