This presentation offers an autoethnographic analysis of two anecdotes drawn from my previous experiences as a fat Latina working in marine mammal research and conservation, through a fat studies lens. Building on scholarship that critiques the hegemony of Western epistemologies such as the Cartesian mind-over-matter drive to “conquer” Nature, I argue that animal care and conservation practices have been effectively “sportified.” This sportification—rooted in a history of colonial, racialized, and gendered ideals—demands bodies and minds deemed capable of subduing or mastering natural environments. Fat bodies, characterized as unable to “control” themselves and “unnatural,” are cast out of Nature, akin to queerness and queer bodies—and, thus, are systematically excluded from these spaces. By weaving personal narratives with socio-political discourses, I reveal how entrenched norms surrounding fitness, race, and gender intersect with dominant ideologies of Nature to bar fat people from participating in the stewardship of non-human species. My analysis challenges assumptions that only certain bodies can responsibly manage, research, or protect wildlife. Ultimately, I call for a reimagining of conservation work that foregrounds inclusivity, interrogates the legacies of conquest-driven environmentalism, and respects the agency of both human and non-human actors.
Presenter: Barbara Perez, Florida Atlantic University