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Food, Obesity Discourses and the Subjugation of Environmental Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2015

Gabrielle O’Flynn
Gabrielle O’Flynn*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Sciences (Education), University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Gabrielle O’Flynn, School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia. Email: gabriell@uow.edu.au
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Abstract

In this article, I critically analyse how meanings of health and food, tied to obesity reduction, ‘subjugate’ environmental priorities and knowledges of food. To do this, I explore the meanings of health and food constructed in the NSW Health Munch & Move program. I examine the use of language to construct notions of food and health that are not only difficult to challenge, but difficult to think otherwise, including in relation to environmental perspectives of food. I argue that as calculative and individualised conceptualisations of food and health become more and more ‘common sense’ (Mudry, 2009), there is a ‘closing off’ of what is thinkable and doable in relation to food and health. The subjugation of environmental priorities of food takes place both through their marginalisation and through how we are invited to define the place of food in our lives.

Keywords

obesity discoursehealthfoodenvironmental discoursesubjugationfutures
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 31 , Special Issue 1: Putting Food on the Table , July 2015 , pp. 99 - 109
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

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