ABSTRACT
We met online 17 years ago – two white, queer, dietitians, fat and thin, dreaming of difference. Then and now we dream of a profession that is accountable to liberation, not white supremacy, though we weren’t using that term at the time. We wanted to be at odds with Western dietetics – then and now – as a belief system and as a knowledge-community of flesh and blood humans. We want not to be at odds here too, while this conversation exists. As long-time collaborators and active disruptors within and outside of the profession, we consider some of the tactics used to quell radical thinking and ways we, and others, have countered these by keeping a queer, liberatory imaginary alive. Mainstream and sidestream dietetics alike are usually sharply unwelcoming of dissent. We stay annoyingly in the profession in part as an act of resistance offered to other marginalized folk who consider entering the field. We want our work to make theirs more possible as ours is made possible by those who came before and still circle round. This chapter explores through collaborative biography how “the queer” relates to “the disruptive” in dietetics and what is necessary for growing spaces where desire for social justice gaily takes root.
