The Applied Anthropology of Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Identity

The 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 local programming to policy decisions at local and national levels. In addition to soliciting explanatory models used by respondents in different cultures and situations, anthropologists find themselves on the front lines of public health and policy attempts at affecting behavioral change. As such, this applied-focused volume will be of utility to scholars and practitioners in applied and medical anthropology, as well as to scholars and professionals in public health and other disciplines. The volume’s authors are professional and student anthropologists from both public health practice and academia. Chapters are geographically diverse, containing lessons learned from attempts to combat obesity by anthropologically focusing on culture, history, economy, and power relative to obesity causation, prevention, and intervention. The Applied Anthropology of Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Identity candidly provides rich information about social identity, obesity, and treatment.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1“Modernization,” Global Influence and Obesity Prevention in the Republic of Palau Chad T. Morris, Amanda Wolfe, Sarah Womack, Stevenson Kuartei Chapter 2Applying 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 3Anthropology 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 Ðào, Sara Arias-Steele, Emily Bissett, Constanza Carney, Zuhra Malik Chapter 4Community Approaches to Obesity Prevention in Brazil: The Food and Nutritional Security Paradigm Charles Klein Chapter 5Metabolic Syndrome Screening and Health Education: Are There Lessons We Can Learn from Japan? Amy Borovoy Chapter 6Who, What, and How: Insights Gained From a Comparative Approach to School-Based Obesity Prevention Efforts Alexandra G. Lancey Chapter 7Addressing Obesity and Associated Medical Conditions in Latino Immigrant Communities in Southeast Georgia John Luque, Moya Alfonso, Yelena Tarasenko Chapter 8Working 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 9Religious Gardens, Pilgrimages and Dancing: A Critique of Translated Interventions in a Tribal Community Sean Bruna Chapter 10Considering Surgical Weight Loss: Applied Anthropology and the Invisible Obese Body Sarah Trainer, Alexandra Brewis, Amber Wutich Chapter 11Fat by Any Other Name: Perceptions of “Obesity” in Clinical Settings Deborah L. Williams, Alexandra A. Brewis, Sarah S. Trainer, Jose Rosales Chavez Chapter 12Obesity as Public Policy: Creating and Changing the Obesogenic Environment Merrill Eisenberg References About the Contributors

About the Author :
Chad T. Morris is associate professor and director of the honors program at Roanoke College. Alexandra G. Lancey is a graduate student at the University of South Florida.

Review :
Chad 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. 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.