Nicholas Villarreal

Nicholas Villarreal

Nicholas Villarreal

Ph.D. Candidate

  • Cultural Studies Graduate Group
Nicholas is a Ph.D. Candidate in Cultural Studies at the University of California, Davis, with dual Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies, and Feminist Theory and Research. Nicholas teaches in the American Studies, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, and Science and Technology Studies Departments. His research explores the political economy of weightloss, diet culture, and diet technologies. Nicholas has been published in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Politics and Gender and has several book reviews in the Journal of Fat Studies.
Research Interests 

Critical Health Studies; Feminist Cultural Studies; Science and Technology Studies; Critical Disability and Fat Studies; Ideologies of Cure and Eugenics; Diets and Diet Culture; Food Studies; Queer and Crip of Color Critique; Body Politics; Historical, Discursive, and Material Analysis; Speculative Studies; Popular Media Studies

Education

Masters of Gender and Feminist Studies (2022) – San Diego State University
Bachelors of Gender, Sexuality, and Women Studies (2018) Minor, Human Development – University of California, Davis

Selected Publications

Villarreal, Nicholas and Jess Whatcott, (2025). “Feminist Disability Studies,” in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Politics and Gender, ed. Lia K. Roberts (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc).

Villarreal, Nicholas (2023) “Book Review: “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, By Aubrey Gordon, Beacon Press, 2023,” Journal of Fat Studies, DOI:10.1080/21604851.2023.2208008

Nicholas Villarreal (2021) “Book Review: What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon,” Journal of Fat Studies, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp.115-117, DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2021.1939492

Nicholas Villarreal (2021) “Book Review: Being Fat: Women, Weight, And Feminist Activism In Canada by Jenny Ellison,” Journal of Fat Studies, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 351-353, DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2021.1899623

Villarreal, Nicholas Daniel. Critically Engaging Representation: Queer, Fat, and Disabled Bodyminds in Romantic Films. Master's Thesis. San Diego State University, 2022.

Honors and Awards

Provost Fellow in Arts, Humanities, and Social Science 2022-2023

Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Fellowship English, and Women and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – 2021 Recipient