Friends, enemies and the cultural politics of critical obesity research

What follows in this chapter is a somewhat anecdotal account of my experiences as one of a small international group of obesity sceptics - some of whom are contributors to this volume ' and what we might call the cultural politics of critical obesity research. My purpose is threefold: first, to interrogate some of the complacent alliances that form between 'like minds' in critical obesity research; second, to explore some of the intellectual resources that have yet to be harnessed by critical obesity researchers and; third, to contribute to scholarship about the cultural significance of 'obesity epidemic' discourse. While its personal flavour may worry some readers, my aspiration here is conventionally academic: to illuminate by trying to connect and disconnect ideas. Throughout, Beck's warning that risk undermines traditional political and theoretical alliances will be a mostly unstated presence. Above all, though, I want to show that, as with the example of Frank Furedi, what matters in the world ' but particularly the world of obesity science - is belief, not truth, and that this is a 'truth'critical obesity scholars might profitably exploit in their own work. Our job as dissenting voices may be less about establishing the truth about obesity but rather exploiting people's beliefs.