The University of Maryland is offering a controversial new course that explores the relationship between “fatness” and “Blackness” as a “social justice issue.”
The class, which is fully enrolled with additional students on the waitlist, aims to examine “fatness as an area of human difference subject to privilege and discrimination,” intersecting with factors such as race, gender, class, and sexual orientation.
“Though we will look at fatness as intersectional, this course will particularly highlight the relationship between fatness and Blackness,” the course description reads.
“We approach this area of study through an interdisciplinary humanities and social-science lens which emphasizes fatness as a social justice issue. The course closes with an examination of fat liberation as liberation for all bodies with a particular emphasis on performing arts and activism as a vehicle for liberation and challenging fatmisia.”
The course is being taught by Sydney Lewis, a senior lecturer in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. According to the course description, it will delve into how societal attitudes toward weight are tied to broader systems of oppression.
The class has sparked criticism, including from Richard Vatz, a professor emeritus at Towson University, who questioned its relevance to preparing students for the real world. Speaking to The National Desk, Vatz expressed skepticism about the course’s practical value, calling it emblematic of an increasingly ideological focus in higher education.
“I don’t think if you went into a job interview and the interviewer said ‘what have you taken recently?’ and the respondent said, ‘Well, I’m taking a course in fat studies, but the intersection of a Blackness and fatness,’ that this would put you in a position to get much of a job, so the utility of this and the job market is probably pretty questionable,” Vatz said.
“I have to be honest with you, this is kind of a laughable, laughable subject,” he continued. “This stuff is just ludicrous.”
This development comes as universities face growing scrutiny over academic programs seen by some as prioritizing activism over career-ready skills.
