Feeding and Fasting Bodies in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Body and Embodiment (Forthcoming)
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Body and Embodiment
Treating women as helpless victims of social conventions or as neoliberal, postmodern subjects to... more Treating women as helpless victims of social conventions or as neoliberal, postmodern subjects to understand “food femininities” obscures the fact that bodies are situated in social hierarchies. Social functions and roles tied to the female body bring about difference in eating and dieting practices. This chapter applies Bourdeusian analysis to the dieting and religious fasting practices of forty-eight women in the rapidly neoliberalizing city of Kolkata, India, to show how structurally rooted dispositions inform rules of engagement surrounding eating. Dieting and religious fasting, though simultaneously self-gratifying and strenuous, took on very different meanings depending on how they enabled women to seek recognition and meaning in their daily lives. The women who dieted projected their bodies onto the public sphere to secure the benefits that the new economic order could bestow, while familial fasts were an embodiment of the collective, material struggles less privileged women encountered on a daily basis.
In general, the body as a machine requires surveillance under appropriate 'Diaetetick Management.... more In general, the body as a machine requires surveillance under appropriate 'Diaetetick Management. ' Turner 1982a: 261 I eat every three or four hours -lots of vegetables and salad. I drink at least ten glasses of water.What I am doing is a kind of balanced and managed eating -you know, a kind of diet management. 20-year-old woman, sales executive in Kolkata, India (Talukdar 2012:113) These two quotations have an uncanny resemblance. In the first,Turner (1982a) documents the nomenclature "diaetetick management" that was popularized by George Cheyne, a physician in eighteenth-century England, to promote healthy eating habits among affluent British men. Cheyne's contention was that the body was like a hydraulic system and human beings must avoid a heavy diet of meat products to prevent it from clogging. The second quote is from a young Indian woman I interviewed for my study of urban, upper-middle class Indian women's dieting practices. Like many of the women I interviewed, she spoke of dieting and religious fasting as scientific practices that enabled her to become energetic and healthy (Talukdar 2012, Talukdar and Linders 2013). Similar to Cheyne's contention, the women I interviewed believed that their bodies are objects that would yield better results if subjected to the control and modification of a managed diet. In spite of being separated by a large landmass, a span of two centuries, and other obvious differences, the similarity in responses between Cheyne and the women in my study point to critical periods in modern history when cultures discover and embrace "new" sciences of body and food that promise great physical benefits. The historical moment when the women in my study were discovering new sciences of the body and diet is, however, drastically different from the time when Cheyne was writing his books on dietary restrictions based on food charts. The last several decades -starting perhaps with the discovery of the recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology in the 1970s 1 -has seen the morphing of fields of technology, engineering, medicine, and biology into one large conglomerate field, typically referred to as biomedical technological sciences (hereafter biotechnological sciences), which produce intricate knowledge of how the human body functions. In this system, 140
Theorizing suggesting that liberation requires that women avoid rather than embrace the litany of... more Theorizing suggesting that liberation requires that women avoid rather than embrace the litany of cultural rituals that in the past have served to oppress them. And yet, the field is premised on theoretical frameworks that are heavily focused in its pursuit of uncovering resistance against patriarchal orders in religious engagements of women in gender-traditional religions, thereby failing to account for the dialectical nature of such engagements. Employing Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to investigate religious fasting practices of forty-one Bengali Hindu women, I argue that the impetus for active negotiations, that entail a more dialectical engagement with meanings of cultural rituals, is located in a set of class-based predispositions that are fostered and reinforced in the experiences and opportunities that women encounter in their daily lives. Ritualistic fasting practices of Bengali Hindu women were strongly linked to resources—both cultural and material--- at the disposal of women, especially those associated with class-gender-body expectations, practices, and inclinations which, here as elsewhere, can be viewed as forms of capital.
Talukdar, Jaita (2013) “The Before-And-After Template: Researching and Reflecting on Body Image Concerns in Globalizing India” in Afshan Jafar and Erynn de Masi Casanova (eds.) Global Beauty, Local Bodies , pp. 117—123. New York: Palgrave MacMillan
If contemporary research on urban Indian women indicates that bodies are becoming central to the ... more If contemporary research on urban Indian women indicates that bodies are becoming central to the life projects of the "new Indian woman," public debates simultaneously reveal that her body is entangled in satisfying traditional and modern ideals of womanhood. There are few studies, though, that have looked into how women themselves reconcile and make use of contradictory cultural signals surrounding their bodies that arise out of a rapidly changing gender and class structure. A Bourdieusian analysis of interviews with forty-eight women living in an urban city of India reveals that not only are bodily concerns and undertakings carefully measured and designed to both resist and embrace, in various combinations, conflicting demands made on a woman's body but that these negotiations vary considerably by social class locations
With western companies spreading the “never too thin” body ideal to non-western societies, many e... more With western companies spreading the “never too thin” body ideal to non-western societies, many expect a global increase in the pathology of eating. This study examines the dieting and slimming practices of 27 women living in urban India. Though the women were involved in various dieting routines and wanted thin bodies, they set limits to the ideal of an ultra-thin body. Instead, the women directed their dieting and slimming practices toward embellishing their contemporary identity as educated, well-informed clients of a burgeoning health indus- try and as cultural agents responsible for protecting generational beliefs surrounding food and body. Grounding my research in theories that understand women's negotiations of their bod- ies in contexts that have been impacted by forces of globalization, yet regulated by their famil- ial worlds, I provide a culturally nuanced argument of why and how urban Indian women set limits on the ultra-thin ideal. The women used cultural strategies, or what I refer to as specu- lative modernity, that rely on traditional notions of beauty and well-being to filter and selec- tively adopt new beliefs of food and body.
The Shape, Size, and Contours of a Fit Body: Hegemonic Codes of Being Underlying Fitness Discourses in Postcolonial India
[Extended Abstract] Drawing upon theories of post-colonial consciousness, I critically examine th... more [Extended Abstract] Drawing upon theories of post-colonial consciousness, I critically examine the growing popularity of bodily ideals of fitness and health in contemporary Indian societies. India is experiencing, what some have labeled, a “wellness wave”---dieting and fitness industries becoming big businesses, and urban Indians striving for healthy and fit bodies (Talukdar 2012). Growing popularity of a fitness ideology can be attributed to socio-economic developments of the last two decades, especially the onset of a neoliberal economic regime and its concomitant beliefs of modern individuality. Bodies play a central role in defining and giving shape to this modern, (neo) liberal identity. In other words, a modern person embodies a consciousness that treats the material body as an object that requires constant supervision and discipline. In this paper, however, I critically examine and expose hegemonic codes underlying individualistic templates in fitness discourses by doing a content analysis of brochures, advertisements and other promotional materials of gyms in Kolkata (2005-2011).
The last few years have seen an increase in the number of gyms in the city both international franchises such as Gold’s Gym and local franchises such as Karma Fitness. Given the emphasis placed on being toned and muscular to look fit, gyms have become coveted, social spaces to carve out that nuanced body. Preliminary analysis reveals that the narratives surrounding the fit body in promotional materials is premised on an ‘equality discourse’ (Davis 2002) that aspiring for fitness is a gender-neutral quest and an individual right. More importantly, a globalizing discourse of fitness (such as staying virtually connected while working out or having international gym membership) is used further to reinforce the idea that fitness is necessary for a modern lifestyle. However, the physical, embodied representation of fitness in these materials tells a different story. Separating the visual representations of fitness from its textual content allows us to see the cultural push towards ‘mimicking’ (Bhaba 1990) western, European bodily representations of fitness. The use of western models (light- skinned, blonde- haired, and muscular) and the before-and-after templates (where the “after” is always a non-traditional look) in promotional materials reveal that the fit look belongs to a dominant, hegemonic group that post-colonial subjects have to measure up to (Krishnaswamy 1998). Additionally, high membership costs ranging from $70-- $100/month speaks to the rare, exclusive nature of these spaces where privileged men and women come together seemingly to carve out individualized, toned bodies.
“Bodybuilding does not need American certifications": Cultural Entrepreneurship In Times of Globalization in Contemporary Bengal
The city of Kolkata, which once enjoyed the reputation of being a bastion of nationalist physical... more The city of Kolkata, which once enjoyed the reputation of being a bastion of nationalist physical institutions such as wrestling, stick fighting, bodybuilding, and yoga, now hosts American-styled gyms that aim to internationalize the experience of going to the gym. The impetus for pursuing a thin-fit body among urban Indians is typically attributed to an emerging neoliberal ethos in the country that individuals must consume themselves in body projects that maximize self-growth. Based on narrative analysis of interviews with twenty personal trainers, I however argue that a sociological study of physical culture in India requires an exploration of “important continuities” that exist between the endogenic physical culture of pre-globalized Bengal and the new contemporary culture of fitness. This continuity is most visible in the lives of personal trainers who invariably owe their knowledge not to certifications they have procured from American fitness associations, but from teachers and mentors (or “gurus”) they have encountered in old neighborhood gyms or local institutions. The scope for bodybuilding in India is very limited, which is a reflection of the overall state of sports and athletics in the country, leaving the men struggling for recognition as bodybuilders. The opening of American-styled gyms, in spite of the meager pay, has catapulted them in the cultural worlds of the affluent and elite members of society. It has also created a parallel culture among personal trainers who choose to keep the tradition of bodybuilding alive by maintaining their ties with their local neighborhood gyms and actively recruiting the younger generation of personal trainers working at American-styled gyms into the field of bodybuilding. Thus, globalization has not rendered old social ties surrounding fitness and physicality irrelevant, and neither have old, neighborhood gyms disappeared. Instead, American styled gyms have given life to the maintenance of fraternal bonds of learning and apprenticeship, and relationships of deference and care that characterized endogenic physical cultural institutions.
Feeding and Fasting Bodies in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Body and Embodiment (Forthcoming)
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Body and Embodiment
Treating women as helpless victims of social conventions or as neoliberal, postmodern subjects to... more Treating women as helpless victims of social conventions or as neoliberal, postmodern subjects to understand “food femininities” obscures the fact that bodies are situated in social hierarchies. Social functions and roles tied to the female body bring about difference in eating and dieting practices. This chapter applies Bourdeusian analysis to the dieting and religious fasting practices of forty-eight women in the rapidly neoliberalizing city of Kolkata, India, to show how structurally rooted dispositions inform rules of engagement surrounding eating. Dieting and religious fasting, though simultaneously self-gratifying and strenuous, took on very different meanings depending on how they enabled women to seek recognition and meaning in their daily lives. The women who dieted projected their bodies onto the public sphere to secure the benefits that the new economic order could bestow, while familial fasts were an embodiment of the collective, material struggles less privileged women encountered on a daily basis.
In general, the body as a machine requires surveillance under appropriate 'Diaetetick Management.... more In general, the body as a machine requires surveillance under appropriate 'Diaetetick Management. ' Turner 1982a: 261 I eat every three or four hours -lots of vegetables and salad. I drink at least ten glasses of water.What I am doing is a kind of balanced and managed eating -you know, a kind of diet management. 20-year-old woman, sales executive in Kolkata, India (Talukdar 2012:113) These two quotations have an uncanny resemblance. In the first,Turner (1982a) documents the nomenclature "diaetetick management" that was popularized by George Cheyne, a physician in eighteenth-century England, to promote healthy eating habits among affluent British men. Cheyne's contention was that the body was like a hydraulic system and human beings must avoid a heavy diet of meat products to prevent it from clogging. The second quote is from a young Indian woman I interviewed for my study of urban, upper-middle class Indian women's dieting practices. Like many of the women I interviewed, she spoke of dieting and religious fasting as scientific practices that enabled her to become energetic and healthy (Talukdar 2012, Talukdar and Linders 2013). Similar to Cheyne's contention, the women I interviewed believed that their bodies are objects that would yield better results if subjected to the control and modification of a managed diet. In spite of being separated by a large landmass, a span of two centuries, and other obvious differences, the similarity in responses between Cheyne and the women in my study point to critical periods in modern history when cultures discover and embrace "new" sciences of body and food that promise great physical benefits. The historical moment when the women in my study were discovering new sciences of the body and diet is, however, drastically different from the time when Cheyne was writing his books on dietary restrictions based on food charts. The last several decades -starting perhaps with the discovery of the recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology in the 1970s 1 -has seen the morphing of fields of technology, engineering, medicine, and biology into one large conglomerate field, typically referred to as biomedical technological sciences (hereafter biotechnological sciences), which produce intricate knowledge of how the human body functions. In this system, 140
Theorizing suggesting that liberation requires that women avoid rather than embrace the litany of... more Theorizing suggesting that liberation requires that women avoid rather than embrace the litany of cultural rituals that in the past have served to oppress them. And yet, the field is premised on theoretical frameworks that are heavily focused in its pursuit of uncovering resistance against patriarchal orders in religious engagements of women in gender-traditional religions, thereby failing to account for the dialectical nature of such engagements. Employing Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to investigate religious fasting practices of forty-one Bengali Hindu women, I argue that the impetus for active negotiations, that entail a more dialectical engagement with meanings of cultural rituals, is located in a set of class-based predispositions that are fostered and reinforced in the experiences and opportunities that women encounter in their daily lives. Ritualistic fasting practices of Bengali Hindu women were strongly linked to resources—both cultural and material--- at the disposal of women, especially those associated with class-gender-body expectations, practices, and inclinations which, here as elsewhere, can be viewed as forms of capital.
Talukdar, Jaita (2013) “The Before-And-After Template: Researching and Reflecting on Body Image Concerns in Globalizing India” in Afshan Jafar and Erynn de Masi Casanova (eds.) Global Beauty, Local Bodies , pp. 117—123. New York: Palgrave MacMillan
If contemporary research on urban Indian women indicates that bodies are becoming central to the ... more If contemporary research on urban Indian women indicates that bodies are becoming central to the life projects of the "new Indian woman," public debates simultaneously reveal that her body is entangled in satisfying traditional and modern ideals of womanhood. There are few studies, though, that have looked into how women themselves reconcile and make use of contradictory cultural signals surrounding their bodies that arise out of a rapidly changing gender and class structure. A Bourdieusian analysis of interviews with forty-eight women living in an urban city of India reveals that not only are bodily concerns and undertakings carefully measured and designed to both resist and embrace, in various combinations, conflicting demands made on a woman's body but that these negotiations vary considerably by social class locations
With western companies spreading the “never too thin” body ideal to non-western societies, many e... more With western companies spreading the “never too thin” body ideal to non-western societies, many expect a global increase in the pathology of eating. This study examines the dieting and slimming practices of 27 women living in urban India. Though the women were involved in various dieting routines and wanted thin bodies, they set limits to the ideal of an ultra-thin body. Instead, the women directed their dieting and slimming practices toward embellishing their contemporary identity as educated, well-informed clients of a burgeoning health indus- try and as cultural agents responsible for protecting generational beliefs surrounding food and body. Grounding my research in theories that understand women's negotiations of their bod- ies in contexts that have been impacted by forces of globalization, yet regulated by their famil- ial worlds, I provide a culturally nuanced argument of why and how urban Indian women set limits on the ultra-thin ideal. The women used cultural strategies, or what I refer to as specu- lative modernity, that rely on traditional notions of beauty and well-being to filter and selec- tively adopt new beliefs of food and body.
The Shape, Size, and Contours of a Fit Body: Hegemonic Codes of Being Underlying Fitness Discourses in Postcolonial India
[Extended Abstract] Drawing upon theories of post-colonial consciousness, I critically examine th... more [Extended Abstract] Drawing upon theories of post-colonial consciousness, I critically examine the growing popularity of bodily ideals of fitness and health in contemporary Indian societies. India is experiencing, what some have labeled, a “wellness wave”---dieting and fitness industries becoming big businesses, and urban Indians striving for healthy and fit bodies (Talukdar 2012). Growing popularity of a fitness ideology can be attributed to socio-economic developments of the last two decades, especially the onset of a neoliberal economic regime and its concomitant beliefs of modern individuality. Bodies play a central role in defining and giving shape to this modern, (neo) liberal identity. In other words, a modern person embodies a consciousness that treats the material body as an object that requires constant supervision and discipline. In this paper, however, I critically examine and expose hegemonic codes underlying individualistic templates in fitness discourses by doing a content analysis of brochures, advertisements and other promotional materials of gyms in Kolkata (2005-2011).
The last few years have seen an increase in the number of gyms in the city both international franchises such as Gold’s Gym and local franchises such as Karma Fitness. Given the emphasis placed on being toned and muscular to look fit, gyms have become coveted, social spaces to carve out that nuanced body. Preliminary analysis reveals that the narratives surrounding the fit body in promotional materials is premised on an ‘equality discourse’ (Davis 2002) that aspiring for fitness is a gender-neutral quest and an individual right. More importantly, a globalizing discourse of fitness (such as staying virtually connected while working out or having international gym membership) is used further to reinforce the idea that fitness is necessary for a modern lifestyle. However, the physical, embodied representation of fitness in these materials tells a different story. Separating the visual representations of fitness from its textual content allows us to see the cultural push towards ‘mimicking’ (Bhaba 1990) western, European bodily representations of fitness. The use of western models (light- skinned, blonde- haired, and muscular) and the before-and-after templates (where the “after” is always a non-traditional look) in promotional materials reveal that the fit look belongs to a dominant, hegemonic group that post-colonial subjects have to measure up to (Krishnaswamy 1998). Additionally, high membership costs ranging from $70-- $100/month speaks to the rare, exclusive nature of these spaces where privileged men and women come together seemingly to carve out individualized, toned bodies.
“Bodybuilding does not need American certifications": Cultural Entrepreneurship In Times of Globalization in Contemporary Bengal
The city of Kolkata, which once enjoyed the reputation of being a bastion of nationalist physical... more The city of Kolkata, which once enjoyed the reputation of being a bastion of nationalist physical institutions such as wrestling, stick fighting, bodybuilding, and yoga, now hosts American-styled gyms that aim to internationalize the experience of going to the gym. The impetus for pursuing a thin-fit body among urban Indians is typically attributed to an emerging neoliberal ethos in the country that individuals must consume themselves in body projects that maximize self-growth. Based on narrative analysis of interviews with twenty personal trainers, I however argue that a sociological study of physical culture in India requires an exploration of “important continuities” that exist between the endogenic physical culture of pre-globalized Bengal and the new contemporary culture of fitness. This continuity is most visible in the lives of personal trainers who invariably owe their knowledge not to certifications they have procured from American fitness associations, but from teachers and mentors (or “gurus”) they have encountered in old neighborhood gyms or local institutions. The scope for bodybuilding in India is very limited, which is a reflection of the overall state of sports and athletics in the country, leaving the men struggling for recognition as bodybuilders. The opening of American-styled gyms, in spite of the meager pay, has catapulted them in the cultural worlds of the affluent and elite members of society. It has also created a parallel culture among personal trainers who choose to keep the tradition of bodybuilding alive by maintaining their ties with their local neighborhood gyms and actively recruiting the younger generation of personal trainers working at American-styled gyms into the field of bodybuilding. Thus, globalization has not rendered old social ties surrounding fitness and physicality irrelevant, and neither have old, neighborhood gyms disappeared. Instead, American styled gyms have given life to the maintenance of fraternal bonds of learning and apprenticeship, and relationships of deference and care that characterized endogenic physical cultural institutions.
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Papers by Jaita Talukdar
The last few years have seen an increase in the number of gyms in the city both international franchises such as Gold’s Gym and local franchises such as Karma Fitness. Given the emphasis placed on being toned and muscular to look fit, gyms have become coveted, social spaces to carve out that nuanced body. Preliminary analysis reveals that the narratives surrounding the fit body in promotional materials is premised on an ‘equality discourse’ (Davis 2002) that aspiring for fitness is a gender-neutral quest and an individual right. More importantly, a globalizing discourse of fitness (such as staying virtually connected while working out or having international gym membership) is used further to reinforce the idea that fitness is necessary for a modern lifestyle. However, the physical, embodied representation of fitness in these materials tells a different story. Separating the visual representations of fitness from its textual content allows us to see the cultural push towards ‘mimicking’ (Bhaba 1990) western, European bodily representations of fitness. The use of western models (light- skinned, blonde- haired, and muscular) and the before-and-after templates (where the “after” is always a non-traditional look) in promotional materials reveal that the fit look belongs to a dominant, hegemonic group that post-colonial subjects have to measure up to (Krishnaswamy 1998). Additionally, high membership costs ranging from $70-- $100/month speaks to the rare, exclusive nature of these spaces where privileged men and women come together seemingly to carve out individualized, toned bodies.
Drafts by Jaita Talukdar
The last few years have seen an increase in the number of gyms in the city both international franchises such as Gold’s Gym and local franchises such as Karma Fitness. Given the emphasis placed on being toned and muscular to look fit, gyms have become coveted, social spaces to carve out that nuanced body. Preliminary analysis reveals that the narratives surrounding the fit body in promotional materials is premised on an ‘equality discourse’ (Davis 2002) that aspiring for fitness is a gender-neutral quest and an individual right. More importantly, a globalizing discourse of fitness (such as staying virtually connected while working out or having international gym membership) is used further to reinforce the idea that fitness is necessary for a modern lifestyle. However, the physical, embodied representation of fitness in these materials tells a different story. Separating the visual representations of fitness from its textual content allows us to see the cultural push towards ‘mimicking’ (Bhaba 1990) western, European bodily representations of fitness. The use of western models (light- skinned, blonde- haired, and muscular) and the before-and-after templates (where the “after” is always a non-traditional look) in promotional materials reveal that the fit look belongs to a dominant, hegemonic group that post-colonial subjects have to measure up to (Krishnaswamy 1998). Additionally, high membership costs ranging from $70-- $100/month speaks to the rare, exclusive nature of these spaces where privileged men and women come together seemingly to carve out individualized, toned bodies.