This course will focus on the development of modern dietetics. Dietetics is an expansive field in which many lines of inquiry can be explored. As such, the formation of the modern obese person will be used as an exemplar to better illuminate the birth of modern dietetics and how it currently functions. Classes will cover particular topics within the scope of dietetics and obesity such as discussions related to weight loss surgery, discipline of the obese person, ethic of nutrition public health, and will conclude with a look to the future and the burgeoning backlash against mediation of food and nutrition.