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<P align=center><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
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<DIV>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 0pt"
align=left><FONT color=#ff0000><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5>Seminar Wednesday<SPAN class=681001018-03122009> 9th
December</SPAN>, </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5>2-3pm; CG054</FONT></SPAN></FONT></H1>
<H1
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5></FONT></SPAN> </H1>
<H1
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5>"Do as we say": a
narrative study of women's experiences of weight management in
Ireland.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3>This research takes as its point of departure the assertion that there
is a set of normative social expectations in Western societies that constitute
an ideal body type for women described by Bordo (1993, 2003) as the thin,
slender, youthful and 'healthy' body.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Debates on obesity, being overweight, fatness, weight management, and
dieting and weight loss can be scrutinised in terms of individualism, the
privatisation of risk, self-surveillance, disciplined bodies, moral rectitude
and the participation of the citizen in society as consumer.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These, in turn, are enmeshed within a
neo-liberal political philosophy that paradoxically enable<SPAN
class=681001018-03122009>s</SPAN> and allow<SPAN
class=681001018-03122009>s</SPAN> much freedom of choice including for
example, over what is eaten, when eating occurs and how eating is done while
simultaneously encouraging individuals to subscribe to dictated norms and
standards and become responsible citizens that do not become burdens on the
state.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is through the body
that much of this responsibility is made visible.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3>Weight management is both a personal and social experience that
involves a complex set of practices, feelings and behaviours. Interested in
questions about micro-level social processes related to women's formation of
their sense of body and self, I hypothesise that weight management can be used
as an investigative lens to examine aspects of the relationship between bodies
and identities. Thus, an exploration of women's experiences of weight
management can enable insight into personal and social identities. In
addition, positing that women are immersed in hetero-normative ideals that
emphasise the acquisition of what Bordo (1993) terms a 'normalised body', this
study addresses the potential domination of women's bodies through the
deployment of discourses of heterosexual and idealized feminine bodies in
weight management strategies and practices. But it is also evident that there
is potential for subversive, transgressive and agentic acts in women's
differential experiences of weight management as they negotiate issues related
to body size and emerging identities. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3>The wider PhD study from which this paper is drawn involves a narrative
based inquiry of women's experiences of weight management. I have completed
one year's observation across four group slimming classes in the North West
and midlands of Ireland and 28 narrative interviews with 14 women. Group
slimming classes involve the telling of multiple stories on a weekly basis
including stories by the members, the leaders and the organisation running the
classes as well as wider societal stories and narratives that infuse the
telling of the other types of stories. Although membership of the classes can
be transitory, story-telling is a constituent element. Members account for
their weight related behaviour, food choices and exercise regimes through
individual moments of story-telling with the leaders at the weigh-in and group
interactions with other members and the leaders at key times during the
classes. Leaders narrate the organisation's main story about weight management
and weight loss and intersperse this with elements of their own stories of
weight loss. In this paper, I will initially establish the theoretical import
of adopting a narrative approach to the study of women's weight management
experiences. I will then focus on some of the body work stories told by the
women and the leaders to illustrate the complex and contradictory nature of
immersion in weight management. An emerging typology of narratives as well as
a meta-narrative of weight management will also be considered.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial" lang=EN-IE><FONT
size=3> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<H4 style="MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 3pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5>Biographical Details<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H4>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=3>Jacqueline O'Toole<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=3>Government of Ireland Scholar 2008-2010<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Lecturer in Social Research [on career
break]<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=3>PhD candidate<SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Department of Humanities<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=3>Department of Political Science and Sociology<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>IT Sligo<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=3>NUIG<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"
lang=EN-IE><A
href="mailto:otoole.jacqueline@itsligo.ie">otoole.jacqueline@itsligo.ie</A> <A
href="mailto:j.otoole3@nuigalway.ie">j.otoole3@nuigalway.ie</A>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" lang=EN-IE><SPAN
class=681001018-03122009><FONT size=5><FONT color=#ff0000>N.B. This seminar
replaces the originally advertised seminar, below, which will be held
next semester:</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=1><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5><STRONG>Behind The Headlines:
</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=1><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5><STRONG>Media Coverage of Social Exclusion in Limerick
City - The Case of Moyross<o:p></o:p></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"
lang=EN-IE><FONT size=5>Eoin Devereux, Amanda Haynes and Martin J.
Power<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=5>Department of Sociology, University of Limerick</FONT>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=681001018-03122009>Seminar
convenor:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dr. Lee F. Monaghan</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2
face=Arial>Senior Lecturer</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Department of
Sociology</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2 face=Arial>University of Limerick</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Ireland</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>tel: 00353(0)61-213346</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>e-mail: <A
href="mailto:lee.monaghan@ul.ie">lee.monaghan@ul.ie</A></FONT></P><FONT
size=2><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>
<P>http://www.ul.ie/sociology/lee.monaghan.html </P></FONT></FONT></FONT>
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