Description
Book SynopsisThe increasing global prevalence of obesity and nutrition-based non-communicable disease has many causes, including food availability; social norms as evidenced in local foodways; genetic predisposition; economic circumstance; cultural variation in norms surrounding body composition; and policies affecting production, distribution, and consumption of food locally and globally. The Applied Anthropology of Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Identity advances understanding of the many cultural factors underlying increased global obesity prevalence. This collection of chapters showcase the value of anthropology's holistic approach to human interaction by exploring how human identity associated with obesity/overweight is affected by cultural norms, policy decisions, and perceptions of cultural change. They also demonstrate best practices for the application of anthropological skillsets to develop culturally-appropriate nutritional behavior change across multiple levels of analysis, from
Trade ReviewChad T. Morris and Alexandra G. Lancey have assembled a valuable collection of anthropological studies of obesity and efforts to combat it. Working in diverse cultural settings, the authors use a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore individual, community, and societal level factors contributing to obesity. Applied anthropologists and public health professionals have much to learn from these authors’ research, findings, and practice recommendations. -- Carol Bryant, University of South Florida
The common thread that ties together the papers in this volume is the holistic perspective that applied anthropology brings to understanding overweight/obesity in diverse geographical settings and among varied groups of people with different lived experiences and perceptions of the world. This perspective is critically important when it comes to addressing not only nutritional-behavior change but also those structural factors and policies that influence access to food and lifestyle. The work of professional and student researchers presented here should be commended for a job well done. -- David Himmelgreen, University of South Florida
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 “Modernization,” Global Influence and Obesity Prevention in the Republic of Palau Chad T. Morris, Amanda Wolfe, Sarah Womack, Stevenson Kuartei Chapter 2 Applying a Socio-Ecological Model to Obesity in the Caribbean: A Community-Based Approach at the Tapion Hospital in Castries, Saint Lucia Colleen O’Brien Cherry, Elizabeth Serieux Chapter 3 Anthropology Field School Insights into Community-Based Participatory Research to Address Food Insecurity: The Case of Demonstration Keyhole Gardens in the Monteverde Zone, Costa Rica Lillie Uyên-Loan Đào, Sara Arias-Steele, Emily Bissett, Constanza Carney, Zuhra Malik Chapter 4 Community Approaches to Obesity Prevention in Brazil: The Food and Nutritional Security Paradigm Charles Klein Chapter 5 Metabolic Syndrome Screening and Health Education: Are There Lessons We Can Learn from Japan? Amy Borovoy Chapter 6 Who, What, and How: Insights Gained From a Comparative Approach to School-Based Obesity Prevention Efforts Alexandra G. Lancey Chapter 7 Addressing Obesity and Associated Medical Conditions in Latino Immigrant Communities in Southeast Georgia John Luque, Moya Alfonso, Yelena Tarasenko Chapter 8 Working with Low-Income and Latino Farmers to Increase Access to Oregon’s Local Food Markets using Community Based Participatory Research and Public Participation GIS Margaret Everett, Betty Izumi, Scott Ellis, Alejandro Tecum, Anne Morse, Stacey Sobell Chapter 9 Religious Gardens, Pilgrimages and Dancing: A Critique of Translated Interventions in a Tribal Community Sean Bruna Chapter 10 Considering Surgical Weight Loss: Applied Anthropology and the Invisible Obese Body Sarah Trainer, Alexandra Brewis, Amber Wutich Chapter 11 Fat by Any Other Name: Perceptions of “Obesity” in Clinical Settings Deborah L. Williams, Alexandra A. Brewis, Sarah S. Trainer, Jose Rosales Chavez Chapter 12 Obesity as Public Policy: Creating and Changing the Obesogenic Environment Merrill Eisenberg References About the Contributors
