Join us for a special PhD Defense Seminar with CSU Biology PhD candidate Beth Wittmann, titled “The Weight of Wilderness: Fat Histories, Eugenic Ideals, and the Terms of Belonging in American Nature.” Beth will share her groundbreaking research on how historical and cultural norms around fitness have shaped access, belonging, and exclusion in U.S. outdoor spaces. Celebrate her achievement and explore this thought-provoking work!
This seminar offers a unique opportunity to examine how environmental fitness norms have influenced conservation, identity, and belonging in outdoor spaces. Beth’s research challenges traditional ideas of outdoor culture, highlighting practices of resistance and pathways toward more inclusive and affirming outdoor communities.
Event Details
Speaker: Beth Wittmann
Title: The Weight of Wilderness: Fat Histories, Eugenic Ideals, and the Terms of Belonging in American Nature
Date: Monday, March 23rd, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Natural Resources 345
Advised by Dr. Deborah Garrity, Professor and Department Chair, CSU Department of Biology
Can’t make it in person? Join online!
Zoom: col.st/x4n84
Through interviews with fat outdoor enthusiasts, Beth explores how historical ideals of bodily fitness—rooted in eugenics and white settler authority—continue to shape exclusionary practices in outdoor spaces. Her work provides fresh insight into the intersection of environmental thought, social justice, and community-building, offering a vision for more equitable and inclusive outdoor futures.
We look forward to celebrating Beth’s achievements and engaging in this important discussion with you!
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Instagram: @csubio
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Twitter/X: @csubiology
Abstract
“This dissertation analyzes how U.S. outdoor culture has historically privileged thin, disciplined, white bodies by tracing the construction of “fit” and “unfit” bodies in environmental thought. It examines how early conservation was shaped by eugenic ideals of bodily and population fitness, and how these logics reinforced white settler authority. Drawing on interviews with fat outdoorists, it identifies ongoing exclusion as well as emerging practices of resistance and community building. Together, the project shows how environmental fitness norms police belonging and highlights pathways toward more inclusive, fat affirming outdoor futures.”
