Fat kinship: an introduction

ABSTRACT This special issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society explores fatness in relationships. As a topic receiving attention in the fields of art, anthropology, critical race theory, queer studies, disability theory, and related fields, kinship is fertile ground for contemporary study, and fat kinship deserves an increased focus through an academic lens. As the introduction to an issue featuring manuscripts across a broad definition of fat kinship from intimate partner relationships, friendships, professional/client relationships and more, both fat/fat and fat/nonfat, I suggest that contemporary views on kinship that prioritize self-selected and non-traditional bonds can be restorative of not only relationships but of self. Identifying authors and approaches to kinship whose methods can be adapted to a fat perspective, this introduction aims to set the stage for an expanded examination of fat relationships.