Reconstructing Obesity

Reconstructing Obesity

"This is not a book that seeks to discredit health research and leave others to do the work of finding a better way to conduct it; rather, it aims to improve health research by providing useful avenues for critique and suggestions for ways forward. In this sense, it works as a very practical guide for those working in the health professions, whether as researchers or healthcare providers, to better understand "obesity" and "overweight" and, importantly, fat people in social and environmental context... it makes a welcome and necessary intervention into the business of health research, provision, and discourse, as well as its public reception." · Fat Studies Journal

"The volume is framed by an excellent Introduction... In all, the various contributions and the volume as a whole successfully de-naturalise and de-universalise obesity so that it is no longer a singular category and the various taken for-granted assumptions about the stigmas attached to it are reconceived." · Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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.

Megan B. McCullough is a Research Health Scientistat the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR), Health Services Research &Development, US Department of Veterans Affairs. Her current research examines pharmaceuticalization, hierarchies of knowledge among healthcare teams, non-physician clinicians, patient-provider communication and patient-centered care.

Jessica A. Hardin is an assistant professor of anthropology at Pacific University. Her research examines the intersections of Christianity, metabolic disorders, and well-being in Samoa.