Overview
In a world now filled with more people who are overweight than underweight, public health and medical perspectives paint obesity as a catastrophic epidemic that threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine life expectancies globally. In many societies, being obese also creates profound personal suffering because it is so culturally stigmatized. Yet despite loud messages about the health and social costs of being obese, weight gain is a seemingly universal aspect of the modern human condition. Grounded in a holistic anthropological approach and using a range of ethnographic and ecological case studies, Obesity shows that the human tendency to become and stay fat makes perfect sense in terms of evolved human inclinations and the physical and social realities of modern life. Drawing on her own fieldwork in the rural United States, Mexico, and the Pacific Islands over the last two decades, Alexandra A. Brewis addresses such critical questions as why obesity is defined as a problem and why some groups are so much more at risk than others. She suggests innovative ways that anthropology and other social sciences can use community-based research to address the serious public health and social justice concerns provoked by the global spread of obesity.
Full Product Details
Author: Alexandra A. Brewis
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.482kg
ISBN: 9780813548906
ISBN 10: 081354890
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 08 November 2010
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Awaiting stock
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.
Reviews
Brewis provides a much-needed and insightful analysis of the current obesity 'epidemic' and the role that culture plays in the causes and consequences of having a fat body. Brewis provides a great resource for teaching about a seemingly intractable issue in public health nutrition. --Andrea Wiley Indiana University, Bloomington (01/01/2011) Obesity is well written in a clear and jargon-free style. Brewis's expertise in this are shines through and I learned many new things about something I have been studying closely for over a decade. --John Speakman American Journal of Human Biology (11/01/2011) Obesity is well written in a clear and jargon-free style. Brewis's expertise in this are shines through and Ilearned many new things about something I have been studying closely for over a decade. --John Speakman American Journal of Human Biology (11/01/2011)
Obesity is well written in a clear and jargon-free style. Brewis's expertise in this are shines through and I learned many new things about something I have been studying closely for over a decade. <br>--John Speakman American Journal of Human Biology (11/01/2011)
Brewis provides a much-needed and insightful analysis of the current obesity ''epidemic'' and the role that culture plays in the causes and consequences of having a fat body. Brewis provides a great resource for teaching about a seemingly intractable issue in public health nutrition. --Andrea Wiley Indiana University, Bloomington (01/01/2011)
Obesity is well written in a clear and jargon-free style. Brewis''s expertise in this are shines through and I learned many new things about something I have been studying closely for over a decade. <br>--John Speakman American Journal of Human Biology (11/01/2011)
Obesity is well written in a clear and jargon-free style. Brewis's expertise in this are shines through and I learned many new things about something I have been studying closely for over a decade. --John Speakman American Journal of Human Biology (11/01/2011)
Author Information
ALEXANDRA A. BREWIS is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University where she teaches anthropology and directs the Center for Global Health.
