In this article, we use qualitative methodology to explore how eight physically active Black women, who self-identify as “obese,” understand and experience health and physical activity, as well as how they position themselves in relation to discourses pertaining to “obesity” and Black femininity. Drawing on Foucauldian-informed critical obesity scholarship and Black feminist thought, we explore the ways in which physically active Black women concurrently resist, reproduce, and navigate racialized and gendered obesity discourse. Our findings advance critical obesity scholarship as we indicate that participants simultaneously adapt to, negotiate, and resist obesity discourse by re-defining health, questioning the BMI, and centering their desire for corporeal “thickness” as critical to their identity as Black women.

Background: The goal of this scoping review is to examine if and how race is used to explain differences in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and/or cardiovascular health (CVH) amongst racial/ethnic populations living in the United States in peer-reviewed research. We are interested in how and if contemporary definitions and understandings of race are used to construct health and fitness narratives that inform health practices. Methods: We will follow the guidelines for scoping reviews based on the online JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis (Chapter 11) and the PRISMA-ScP extension to identify and critically evaluate how race in the United States is constructed in cardiorespiratory fitness studies. Free text terms and subject headings will be used to search for synonyms and related terms of any racial/ethnic group, race and racial differences, cardiovascular health and cardiorespiratory fitness. We will search the following databases (from inception onwards): EBSCO databases (Academic Search Ultimate, CINAHL, Education Source, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO), PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index). In this scoping review, studies will be included if they are peer-reviewed, with any methodological design, published in English language, and related to physical activity and cardiorespiratory health from different racial groups in the United States.Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, no scoping review has explored this topic. This review has the potential to show how and if contemporary studies of CRF and CVH define race and discuss racial differences. In addition, it may provide future CRF and CVH studies a rationale for integrating a more socio-cultural informed approach into CRF and CVH analyses. Conclusion: By using a scoping review methodology, we will examine comprehensively the effects of physical activity on cardiorespiratory health and/or cardiorespiratory fitness in different racial groups in the United States. In this review, we will cover the body of literature on this subject, which has not been examined previously. We will summarize the evidence of how race is constructed in studies of cardiorespiratory fitness in relevant peer-reviewed research. Based on our findings, we will identify knowledge gaps and suggest areas for future research.

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