Toronto Metropolitan University Open Journals
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A Multisensory Assemblage of our Fatness: Weaving the Affective Entanglements of Fat Politic across Distance
No full textAs two scholars situated in different provinces of Canada and disciplines, we often converse about how we participate in “rehearsals for living” in our marginalized bodies (Maynard & Simpson 2023). Due to systems of ‘healthism’, ableism, sizeism, racism, heteronormativity, marginalized bodies such as ours are framed as close to death, arriving at death, or already dead. There is no lively quality associated with our ‘Otherness’ hence the ‘rehearsals for living’ we come to experience under normalcy’s criterion of the body and embodiment. We present a duoethnographic methodology taken up to present multiple perspectives of our intersectional experiences of fatness, disability, gender, and racialization as we connect to our body in their entirety. Additionally, we reflect on the affective movement of social bodies such as ours and ‘what a body can do’ as we negotiate space and time and its entanglements through the layering of research-creation methods. Erin Manning (2016) conceptualizes this form of work as an artful practice that honours complex forms of knowing and a form of research that is collective at the core. While dominant forms of art-making are singularly focused on production, we focus on the artistic process. Within this paper, we offer a multisensory assemblage that captures a capacious understanding of the bodymind. A sensorial connection through art and worldmaking allows us to respond, create, and co-create affective meanings of “rehearsals for living”. Our article\u27s art and sensorial focus invites a different mode of understanding the senses and connection as mixed with the world(s) and each other. That interconnectedness is the loci for our paper as we collectively work on centering the body-mind-spirit, and the affective entanglements of our fat kinship and politics, to exit the personal registry and its oppressive systems (i.e., sizeism/shapeism, ableism, heterosexism, etc.). We thus engage with one another and with this piece in an “unmethodical way” or form of “embodied writing”, painting, moving, or more (Thompson, 2017) to cultivate critical inquiry. Our stories and research-creation may draw parallels, tensions and contrasts, but our objective is to build a multisensory assemblage of our fatness through space and time
Exploring fat futures studies: Venturing into preferable fat futures in the context of fat women’s physical activity
No full textThis article introduces the concept of “fat futures studies,” a framework merging fat studies with futures studies. Focusing on envisioning preferable futures for fat people, particularly women engaging in physical activity, it employs dialogic thematic analysis of 33 columns by certified personal trainer Louise Green. Three key themes emerge: athletic victory as the motivation to move; fat women leading the pack; and athletic identity and praxis as something ordinary for fat women. The first theme challenges prevailing notions by showcasing fat individuals pursuing physical activity beyond weight loss. The second highlights fat women’s transformative leadership potential, countering traditional perceptions. The third argues for normalizing fat women’s participation in physical activity. Utilizing Leena Koski’s dialogic thematic analysis, the study emphasizes a dialogue between theory, research questions, and data. The results indicate positive phenomena in the present that can shape inclusive and accessible fat futures in sports and exercise. While acknowledging limitations, this preliminary exploration of the emerging field of fat futures studies proves valuable in envisioning and advocating for fat-positive futures, challenging structural marginalization, and contributing to the discourse on social justice in physical activity. The study advocates a paradigm shift, urging fitness professionals and co-exercisers to abandon anti-fat narratives, fostering a more equitable and supportive environment. The findings emphasize recognizing and amplifying present-day positive occurrences as catalysts for a more inclusive future for fat people engaging in physical activity
Self Making, World Building: Centering Fat Sexual Subjectivity as a Path to Fat Sexual Futures
No full textThe sexuality of fat cisgender women in the public image is often intertwined with shame and mostly represented through fetishism or desexualization. Rarely are their sexualities discussed in a way that centers the agency and autonomy of fat women, therefore obscuring imaginings of what fat sexual liberation could look like. Through 30 in-depth interviews with fat cisgender women, I explore how the sexuality of fat women is fraught with additional power dynamics, including the framing of sex as social capital, ultimately demonstrating how fatphobia functions as an obstacle to sexual liberation for them. By leveraging Linda Martín Alcoff’s idea of sexual subjectivity, I present fat sexual self-making as not only a way to address fatphobia but also as a world-building tool to create a future where all bodies can achieve sexual liberation. This paper is a condensed version of a longer Master’s thesis
Excessibility: Expansiveness as Educational Praxis
No full textAs two fat, queer, and neurodivergent doctoral students, we exist in bodyminds that are constantly perceived to be “too much.” Through physical spaces, professional expectations, and interpersonal interactions, our bodyminds are policed for exceeding normative boundaries. Working within a school of education, our bodyminds face heightened scrutiny as our “excess” positions us outside the image of a good teacher and role model for young children (Davies, 2022; Schee & Gard, 2014). Using a blend of personal reflection and queer, disability, feminist, and fat studies scholarship, this article explores the knowledges our excessive bodyminds bring to our work within the field of education, and how we (em)body this excess as intentional educational praxis through our teaching and research. We consider questions like: How do we teach and practice expansiveness as educators? How do these practices rupture and exceed existing notions of respectability and inclusion? How do we sustain wholeness within institutions that demand we make ourselves smaller? Using our embodied and situated knowledges, we imagine ways in which this excess allows for more expansive and inclusive notions of justice in P-12 teacher education and beyond. We claim “excessibility” as an ongoing practice of imagination, expression, and interdependence that moves us closer to creating more liberatory spaces for all bodyminds
“Your Fat Friend” (2023): A Conversation with Jeanie Finlay
No full textThis is an abridged transcript of an interview with Jeanie Finlay, the director of Your Fat Friend (2023) featuring Aubrey Gordan by Allegra Morgado. The interview was done via Zoom on August 1st, 2025. Your Fat Friend has significantly contributed to the project of fat liberation since its release, and we wanted to use this space to reflect on the powerful filmmaking and narratives that center fatness. The film has been incredibly meaningful to folks across the fat studies and fat activist community globally, and we hope this interview and the reflection shared by Morgado (2024) following this interview, encourage more people to watch this film, and also envision a fat future and worldmaking where their own bodies and stories can be generated via connection
Reimagining our Worlds and Futures: Let’s Fatten it!
No full textCo-managing editors Ramanpreet A. Bahra and Kelsey Ioannoni introduce the first issue of Volume 2 of Excessive Bodies: A Journal of Artistic and Critical Fat Praxis and World Making. Here, they explore the key themes of this issue and reflect on the pieces within. 
Cover Art – “Echoes of Us”
No full textThis piece includes a poem by the cover artist of the issue, titled "Echoes of Us". 
The Effect of Boundary Conditions andOrientation on the Natural Convection in Enclosure
No full textThe study of natural convection and heat transfer in an enclosure is an interesting topic in mathematics and engineering due to its significant practical applications in traditional and renewable energy. This study detailed natural convection heat transfer in rectangular enclosures filled with clear single-component fluid or porous media. We considered different thermal boundary conditions, aspect ratios, and base angle variations. The effects of the various physical parameters, such as the Rayleigh, Prandtl, Darcy-Rayleigh numbers, etc., are comprehensively studied. This study presents valuable mathematical insights into enhancing the convection heat transfer performance in the enclosure
MHD Mixed Convection of MgO-Ag/H2O Hybrid Nanofluid with Nanoparticles Shape Effects
No full textThe investigation of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) mixed convection hybrid nanofluid flow and heat transportation through a shrinking surface is carried out. The influence of nanoparticle morphologies of MgO-Ag/H2O is being analyzed. The system initially constructed in partial differential equations (PDEs) is relegated into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by implementing the appropriate similarity variables. The reduced ODEs are subsequently evaluated numerically with bvp4c solver in MATLAB environment. Valuable insights into the shape of nanoparticles, concentration of MgO, and magnetic impact are provided, and they are shown to affect different flow and heat transfer properties. The cylinder nanoparticles demonstrate improved skin friction and heat transmission rates compared to the brick and spherical nanoparticles. Conversely, the aiding flow leads the magnetic parameter to raise the skin friction and heat transport ratio. The spherical shape exhibits the highest gain in velocity and temperature profiles, while MgO concentrations lead to reduce the velocity and temperature profiles
Multi-Physics Analysis of Perovskite Solar Cells for Spectral-Splitting Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) Systems
No full textThis paper establishes an optical-electrical-thermal (OET) model to investigate the output performance of perovskite solar cells (PSC) for spectrum-splitting photovoltaic thermal (PVT) applications. It is observed that 5.4% of parasitic loss and 50.1% of refractive loss under AM 1.5 irradiation. Below 400 nm, most of the solar spectrum is absorbed by the FTO layer. Removing part of the short wavelengths could not have a negative effect on the electrical performance of PSC. When selecting a 500-800 nm spectrum window for PSC, the operating temperature decreases by 9.1 °C, improving the PSC conversion efficiency by 1.3%