Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity (UBVO) seminars

The Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity (UBVO) is an interdisciplinary research unit based at the University of Oxford, dedicated to understanding the complex and interwoven causes of obesity in populations across the world. This seminar series is hosted by the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Fatness and the body 5/5: When the measure becomes the metric - making sense of the body mass index in research and practice

How body size is used in research and discourse on health, bringing together theory from anthropology, sociology, public health and more. With llya Gutin, University of Texas at Austin

06-24
44:11

Fatness and the body 4/5: Fifteen (plus!) ways estrogens influence adipose tissues

Exploring the phenomenal range of roles estrogens play with respect to our metabolism – a range that is only just beginning to be understood. With Deborah Clegg, Texas Tech University

06-24
39:01

Fatness and the body 3/5: Why is there a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in rural areas? A qualitative study of rural children's perspectives of rural foodways

Exploring children's views on their diets in relation to culture, identity and tradition in their everyday lives. With Ellen Margrete Iveland Ersfjord, University of Agder, Norway

06-24
32:25

Fatness and the body 2/5: Being fat or having obesity - combining social constructivism and biomedical research on childhood obesity

Where or what is the difference between childhood obesity and fatness, who has the right to decide that, and why is it important? With Zofia Boni, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan

06-24
39:05

Fatness and the body 1/5: Childhood adversity and adiposity - examining differences by sociocultural context

Looking at the complex relationships between adversity in childhood and obesity in adulthood, with Shakira Suglia, Emory University

06-24
48:16

Emotions in international food law

Anne Saab, associate professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute looks at how feelings such as fear and anxiety might influence food safety regulations.

04-30
28:01

Sugarcoated: Sugar tax and media discourses on the context of policymaking

Dr Esther Gonzalez-Padilla asks what is sugar? Why should we study it? And how much sugar should we be eating?

04-30
05:23

Sweetness as an aesthetic relationship

Dr Maddalena Borsato, senior researcher at Ritsumeikan University examines the ambiguities and of the contradictions of sweetness.

04-30
31:03

Outwitting the temporalities of ‘control’ for Type 2 diabetes in urban India

Pallavi Laxmikanth speaks about her PhD research examining understandings and practises of diabetes management in middle class communities in Hyderabad’s High-Tech City.

04-30
35:45

Excess as entertainment: Mukbang and the theatrics of eating for an online audience

Dr Thao Dam explores how food is experienced digitally, through the Korean-originated practice of mukhbang, where people pay to watch others eat inline.

12-15
37:22

From grassroots to platforms. The reconfiguration of alternative food provisioning in an online world

Dr Francesca Forno, Associate professor at the University of Trento discusses how new, grassroots food movements are using online platforms and how their online platforms are being appropriated by bigger businesses.

12-15
48:18

Curating good choice, digital marketplace platforms and the framing of eating

Dr Jeremy Brice explores how consumer choice is governed, protected, and cared for by firms which operate digital marketplace platforms from the likes of Deliveroo to Amazon Fresh.

12-15
46:46

Personalised nutrition and dietary behaviour change in an online study across 7 European countries

Dr Anna Macready, associate professor in the School of Agriculture Policy and Development at the University of Reading, takes us through personalised nutrition and asks, ‘is there a right or wrong diet?’

12-15
38:35

Lazy, crazy and disgusting: stigma and the undoing of global health

This UBVO seminar was given by Alexandra Brewis (Arizona State University) on 3 December 2020

10-22
44:46

Connection and conflict: hHw neoliberal healthism and inequity shape bariatric surgery support forum dynamics

This UBVO seminar was presented by Zoe Meleo-Erwin (William Paterson University of New Jersey) on 19 November 2020

10-22
44:45

Voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in Kenya: Anthropology and ethics in the pursuit of public health

This UBVO seminar was presented by Adam Gilbertson (University of North Carolina) on 12 November 2020

10-22
33:59

Cultured meat as a case study in the future of food

This UBVO seminar was presented by Ben Wurgaft (MIT) on 5 November 2020

10-22
34:48

Feeling the ‘weight’ of expectation: The necessity of understanding ‘obesity’ as a biopsychosocial phenomenon

A UBVO seminar presented by Oli Williams (King's College London) on 29 October 2020

10-22
44:04

The damaging impact of weight stigma: Psychosocial stress and harmful health consequences

This UBVO seminar was given by Rebecca Puhl (University of Connecticut) on 22 October 2020

10-22
34:55

The syndemic of COVID-19, obesity and food insecurity in the United States

This UBVO seminar was given by William Dietz (George Washington University) on 15 October 2020

10-22
36:01

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