FAT is not an F-word! The radical practice of fat joy
Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with three women embracing the radical practice of finding joy in big bodies. Fat bodies are often stigmatised, stereotyped, shamed, medicalised, and politicised. Even the word F.A.T gets denigrated. But there is another way. Reckoning with eating disorders and society's limitations, Dani, Evie, and Kalpana are no longer holding back from the delights of food, fashion, dance, ocean swimming, and more. Hear why, for them, the personal is political. But can expectations to be fat and jolly become a burden too? What about the radical act of just being and big?This event was hosted and organised by the inaugural Fat Joy Festival and the 11th International Weight Stigma ConferenceSpeakersDani Galvin (aka Dani Adriana)Content creator and body positivity and mental health advocateFat peer support facilitatorCo-creator, plus-size pop-culture inspired costumes and accessoriesBachelor of Counselling graduateEvie (Evangeline) GardenerPublic health researcher and advocatePhD studentUniversity of QueenslandKalpana PrasadPerformer, facilitator, choreographer with Bring a Plate Dance companyPostgraduate speech pathology studentDisability support workerThanks to Dr Lily O'Hara from Griffith University, the convenor of the Fat Joy Festival and the 11th International Weight Stigma Conference.Further reading and viewingHow we think about obesity and body weight is changing, here's why (article co-athored by Evie Gardener)The Real Cost of Appearance Ideals and Discrimination report (The Butterfly Foundation)Fat Joy PodcastThe body is not an apology by Sonya Renee TaylorWhat we talk about when we talk about FAT by Aubrey GordonYou have the right to remain fat by Virgie Tovar"Fat" isn't a bad word — it's just a way I describe my body by Aubrey Gordon Selling Stigma: Afflictive Power and Fat Oppression - presentation by Rachel Fox
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How animals use natural medicine to heal themselves
Meet apes that swallow leaves to dislodge worms and sparrows that use cigarette butts to repel parasites. Many animals use medicine to treat themselves — something that for a long time has been thought to be the exclusive domain of humans. Now scientists are turning to the medical knowledge of the animal kingdom to improve agriculture, create better lives for our pets, and develop new pharmaceutical drugs.Presented at the Free Library of PhiladelphiaListen to Big Ideas: SpeakerJaap de RoodeSamuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory UniversityAuthor of Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves
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The dark side of collaboration — when thinking together goes wrong
At face value, collaboration sounds like a good thing: collaboration in the classroom, with colleagues, or between nations. But throughout history, collaboration was not always considered a virtuous act, and those who were identified as collaborators were shunned, humiliated or worse. This talk explores how people justify their involvement in wrongdoing, and how when collaboration devolves into conformity, it risks silencing dissent.This event was recorded at the Bundanon Art Museum.SpeakerDr Simon Longstaff — Executive Director, The Ethics Centre
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Adam Liaw on what spaghetti bolognese tells us about Australian life
Food is essential to human life, but are we taking it for granted? Popular chef, writer and broadcaster Adam Liaw is an advocate for good food for everyone. He takes us on a journey through the history and science of food, and its place in our societies, economies and cultures throughout time, arguing that food should play a central role in government policy making.The 2025 Hugh Stretton Oration was recorded at the University of Adelaide on 14 May 2025.SpeakersAdam LiawCook, writer, broadcasterAlison CoatesProfessor of Human Nutrition, University of South Australia
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Mao and Stalin — did they lead the way for tyrannical leaders like Trump?
Books on tyrants, dictators, and authoritarian leaders are suddenly bestsellers again as we all try to make sense of the tilt towards tyrannical leadership around the world, the mass compliance it commands, and its use of terror, fear, and often violence, to govern. Two of Australia's leading scholars on China and the Soviet Union, Linda Jaivin (author of BOMBARD THE HEADQUARTERS! The Cultural Revolution in China) and Sheila Fitzpatrick (author of The Death of Stalin) join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to consider two 20th Century tyrants whose legacies live on today.SpeakersLinda JaivinAuthor and China specialistAssociate, Australian Centre on China in the World, Australian National UniversityProfessor Sheila FitzpatrickHistorian of modern Russia and the Soviet UnionProfessor, Australian Catholic University and Honorary Professor, University of SydneyThis event was presented by Readings Books with Black Inc Books, with thanks to events producer Christine Gordon.
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