Reconstructing Obesity: The Meaning of Measures and the Measure of Meanings (Food, Nutrition, and Culture, 2)

In the crowded and busy arena of obesity and fat studies, there is a lack of attention to the lived experiences of people, how and why they eat what they do, and how people in cross-cultural settings understand risk, health, and bodies. This volume addresses the lacuna by drawing on ethnographic methods and analytical emic explorations in order to consider the impact of cultural difference, embodiment, and local knowledge on understanding obesity. It is through this reconstruction of how obesity and fatness are studied and understood that a new discussion will be introduced and a new set of analytical explorations about obesity research and the effectiveness of obesity interventions will be established. Acknowledgements Dedication Introduction: Re-Constructing Obesity Megan B. McCullough and Jessica A. Hardin Part I: Naturalizing Measures and Universalizing Effects Chapter 1. Resocializing Body Weight, Obesity and Health Agency Anne E. Becker Chapter 2. The Mismeasure of Obesity Emily Yates-Doerr Chapter 3. ‘Diabesity’ and the stigmatizing of lifestyle in Australia Darlene McNaughton Part II: Cross-Cultural Body Discourses and Unstable Categories Chapter 4. Obesity in Cuba: Memories of the Special Period and Approaches to Weight Loss Today Hanna Garth Chapter 5. Fasting for Health, Fasting for God: Samoan Evangelical Christian Responses to Obesity and Chronic Disease Jessica A. Hardin Part III: Fat Etiologies and Conflicting Interventions Chapter 6. Perspectives on Diabetes and Obesity from an Anthropologist in Behavioral Medicine Rochelle Rosen Chapter 7. Body Image and Weight Concerns among Emirati Women in the United Arab Emirates Sarah Trainer Chapter 8. ‘Not Neutral Ground’: Exploring School as a Site for Childhood Obesity Intervention and Prevention Programs Tracey Galloway and Tina Moffat Part IV: Cultures of Practice Chapter 9. An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Ton of Controversy: Exploring Tensions in the Fields of Obesity and Eating Disorder Prevention Lisa R. Rubin and Jessica A. Joseph Chapter 10. Fat and Knocked-Up: An Embodied Analysis of Stigma, Visibility, and Invisibility in the Biomedical Management of an Obese Pregnancy Megan B. McCullough Afterword Stephen McGarvey Index Contents 7 Illustrations 9 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction—Reconstructing Obesity: The Meaning of Measures and the Measure of Meanings 11 Part I—Global Health, Naturalizing Measures, and Universalizing Effects 35 Chapter 1—Resocializing Body Weight, Obesity, and Health Agency 37 Chapter 2—The Mismeasure of Obesity 59 Chapter 3—"Diabesity" and the Stigmatizing of Lifestyle in Australia 81 Part II—Large Embodiment and Histories of Fat 97 Chapter 4—Obesity in Cuba: Memories of the Special Period and Approaches to Weight Loss Today 99 Chapter 5—Fasting for Health, Fasting for God: Samoan Evangelical Christian Responses to Obesity and Chronic Disease 117 Part III—Cultures of Practice and Conflicting Interventions 139 Chapter 6—Perspectives on Diabetes and Obesity from an Anthropologist in Behavioral Medicine: Lessons Learned from the "Diabetes Care in American Samoa" Project 141 Chapter 7—Body Image and Weight Concerns among Emirati Women in the United Arab Emirates 157 Chapter 8—"Not Neutral Ground": Exploring School as a Site for Childhood Obesity Intervention and Prevention Programs 179 Part IV—Fat Etiologies, Stigma, and Gaps of Care in Biodmedical Models of Obesity 207 Chapter 9— An Ounce of Prevention, a Ton of Controversy: Exploring Tensions in the Fields of Obesity and Eating Disorder Prevention 209 Chapter 10—Fat and Knocked-Up: An Embodied Analysis of Stigma, Visibility, and Invisbility in the Biomedical Management of an Obese Pregnancy 225 Afterword 245 Contributors 248 Index 252 This volume draws on ethnographic methods and analytical emic explorations in order to consider the impact of cultural difference, embodiment, and local knowledge on understanding obesity. It is through this reconstruction of how obesity and fatness are studied and understood that a new discussion will be introduced...