©[2018] Joy Cox ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NEGOTIATING IDENTITY AND TAKING POLITICAL ACTION IN THE FAT LIBERATION MOVEMENT By JOY ARLENE RENEE COX A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Communication, Information and Library Studies Written under the direction of Bernadette Gailliard And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION NEGOTIATING IDENTITY AND TAKING POLITICAL ACTION IN THE FAT LIBERATION MOVEMENT by JOY ARLENE RENEE COX Dissertation Director: Bernadette Gailliard Abstract This dissertation used an interdisciplinary approach to examine facilitators and barriers of the Fat Liberation Movement (FLM). Drawing on scholarship related to identity, organizational identification, social movements, and public policy, this study examined four research questions about how issues of discourse, identity, political action, and internal routines impact the progress of the FLM. Through content, thematic, and frame analysis, the researcher analyzed 3 viral Facebook posts; 27 episodes of The Biggest Loser, My 600 lb. Life, and My Big Fat Fabulous Life; and 27 blog posts from the blogs The Militant Baker and Dances with Fat as well as the online magazine My Body is not an Apology. In addition, the researcher conducted 25 in-depth interviews with active members of the FLM. Findings from the study revealed three discursive tensions (unnatural/natural, fact/fiction, and acceptable/unacceptable) to illustrate the ways that fat rejection and fat acceptance discourse competed in interaction. ii The primary facilitators of the movement were: the use of fat acceptance discourse; identity; identification processes through virtual communities; political action efforts; and internal practices and strategies through the use of social media and blogs. The primary barriers of the movement were: the use of fat rejection discourse; the acceptance of intersectional identities; a lack of collective organization, and a decentralized leadership hierarchy. Through the examination of the FLM, rich data emerged to explain several actions movement members participate in through verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors including language (reclaiming the word “fat”), and physical activity (uninstitutionalized institutionalized political actions), adding to or taking away from movement’s progress. Additionally, frameworks around discourse, organization identification and political action have been extended to the context of a marginalized grassroots movement operating primarily online. Future directions for research seek to build on matters of identity and identification within the discipline of communication around organizational identification, membership negotiation, and discourse. Practical implications have also been given as recommendations to improve the actions of the movement and its members regarding communication, inclusion, and social movement practices. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ten years ago, I set out on a journey that I had no clue would bring me to this point. I thought obtaining a bachelor’s degree would be the pinnacle of my academic success. Getting in and out in four years was my goal. That all changed the day I stumbled across a flyer for the Ronald E. McNair Scholar’s program. Now, seven years after being accepted into the program, I am completing the acknowledgments section of my dissertation. This journey could not be made possible without the help and encouragement of loved ones, friends, faculty and staff. For those who have had an integral role in me getting to this point, you are appreciated, valued, and loved. To Dr. Betty Mei: If not for you, my journey through academia would not have been possible. Thank you for seeing what I could not see. Thank you for your wisdom and guidance. The McNair Scholars Program is great in part to your leadership. To Dr. Melanie Booth-Butterfield: To my first mentor, I owe you a million of thanks! Thank you for taking a chance on me 7 years ago. It has been a pleasure to know and learn from you! Hope retirement is treating you well! To my dissertation committee: Dr. Wolfson, thank you for being available and a voice of reason throughout this process. You were always encouraging, always helpful, and always optimistic. I am grateful to have spent this last year with you on my side. Dr. Crowley, you are a bright light no matter where you go! Thank you so much for your wisdom and camaraderie throughout my time at Rutgers. I have learned so much from you. I am glad to you know you not only as a colleague, but also a friend. Dr. Radford, long before you ever served on my committee you were an intricate part to my success iv through the program. Thank you for being the mother figure I needed to gently push me in the direction I needed to go. I appreciate the time you took to teach and celebrate us students. You helped Rutgers to feel like “home” for me. Dr. Gailliard, through many rounds of revisions we have made it here with our minds still intact! Thank you for being the Chair on my committee and my advisor for everything else. You helped make this process easy (well, as easy as it could be)! Everyone should have a cheerleader like you in their corner. Your service is invaluable and will not be forgotten. To my mom: As I write this on your birthday, I’m grateful you are here to see me finish! There aren’t enough words that I could conjure up to express what and who you have been in my life. Thank you for all the encouragement, laughs, and free meals that sustained me through the past 10 years. You are a gem one could never afford to purchase. Glad you were gifted to me. To my sisters: Dawn and April, thanks! We are too quirky for mushy words. I look forward to continuing to laugh our way through life. You two are great! To my daddy: Life often throws us curve balls, and every now and again they are the type that make us question everything. I don’t have the answers as to why you are no longer here, but what I do know is that you are apart of me, as I was of you. I hear your voice when I sing. I see you in the little things I do. You will not be forgotten. If possible, you should be notified that I finished! Love you much! R.I.P. To Bunmi: Boomster! What can I say…You know, I questioned if it would have been a good idea to add you in my acknowledgments when I finished my master’s thesis (since we were just starting out), and here we are. Looks like I made the right choice! Going through this process with you by my side has been worthwhile. Thank you for all the pep v talks and lending a listening ear. And did I mention the jollof?!? Excited to see where we will go together next. To cohorts past and present: We are family and will always be! Whether it was help on assignments or sharing happy hour sodas (in my case) after a long semester, you all have been there. Thank you for giving of yourselves in hopes of seeing me succeed. To faculty and staff: How could we advance in our studies without you?! Thank you for the care and concern given throughout semesters. Thank you for office hours and follow- up emails. To anyone else that is not specifically named, charge it to my head (I just wrote a dissertation) and not my heart! I’d rather celebrate in person anyway, so look forward to phone calls, emails, and texts! With great appreciation and satisfaction, I do pen the last sentence of this section, culminating my experience in academia as a student. Through good and bad days, I have been tried and proven. I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………iv INTRODUCTION…………………………………………...……………………………1 CHAPTER 1…………………………………………………………………...………....5 Mapping the Movement…………………………………………………………...5 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………….19 The Power of Discourse………………………………………………………….19 Identity, Identification, and Fat Liberation………………………………………21 Cognitive Approaches……………………………………………………………21 Social Identity Theory……………………………………………………21 Social Categorization Theory……………………………………………23 Discursive Approaches…………………………………………………………..24 Identification and the Feminist Perspective……………………………………………..………………...24 Identification and Intersectionality……………………………………..……………………27 Identification and Embodiment……………………………………………….……………..28 Fat Liberation and Social Change………………………………………………..30 Social Construction and Fat Liberation………………………………….30 Political Action…………………………………………………………..35 Uninstitutionalized Political Action within Fat Liberation Communities …………………………………………………….36 Institutionalized Political Action within Fat Communities…………………...………………………………...37 Advocacy Coalition Framework…………………………………………38 Advocacy Coalition and Fat Liberation………………………..40 vii Understanding Social Movements through Culture and Framing……….42 Social Movements and the Digital Age………………………...43 CHAPTER 3 – METHODS………………………………………………….………...46 Phase One………………………………………………………………………...47 Content Analysis…………………………………………………………………47 TV Shows………………………………………………………………..47 Sample………………………………………………………….47 Coding Procedure………………………………………………48 Frequency of Negative Communication…………………48 Frequency of Positive Communication…………………..49 Direct Quotes…………………………………………….49 Total Scenes Fat Related………………………………....49 Total Number of