Both intriguing and relevant

books:


	• Fat: The Anthropology of an Obsession Don Kulick, Anne Meneley Tarcher, 2005 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Both intriguing and relevant

This volume is composed of an abundance of fresh, interesting, and frequently counter-intuitive anthropological essays that tackle the subject of fat. Most of authors choose unique topics like that of Nigerian force-feeding, or the south American "Pichtaco" (a mythical figure that abducts natives and steals their body fat), and even the nature of obese pornography. All of this is well written insightful, and frequently relevant to even the "normal" among us.

All this said, the book is not quite a home run. "Oil" and "Pissed Off," (the former written by author/editor Anne Meneley, the latter by activist Allyson Mitchell) are respectively boring, and pointless essays, which seem out of place in what is otherwise a terrific collection.

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A needed recommondation

Once again, another fun and insightful read. I'm also a big girl myself and the book did what it promised, made me think about my body and the images of the media and how other cultures respond to the idea of fat.

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A whole new way of thinking

Fat porn? Spam? Starbucks? I will never think of fat the same way again. This book was so much fun to read--it really made anthropology accessible, and helped me look at fat as something completely subjective. I love that fat is beautiful in places around the world. I also love that other places around the world obsess about fat as much as we do. I highly recommend this book and can't wait for Fat II!

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An eclectic and highly original examination of one of the most dynamic concepts-and constructs-in the world.

With more than one billion overweight adults in the world today, obesity has become an epidemic. But fat is not as straightforward-or even as uni-versally damned-as one might think. Enlisting thirteen anthropologists and a fat activist, editors and anthropologists Don Kulick and Anne Meneley have produced an unconventional-and unprecedented-examination of fat in various cultural and social contexts. In this anthology, these writers argue that fat is neither a mere physical state nor an inert concept. Instead, it is a construct built by culture and judged in courts of public opinion, courts whose laws vary from society to society.

From the anthropology of "fat-talk" among teenage girls in Sweden to the veneration of Spam in Hawaii; from fear of the fat-sucking pishtaco vampire in the Andes to the underground allure of fat porn stars like Supersize Betsy-this anthology provides fresh perspectives on a subject more complex than love handles, and less easily understood than a number on a scale. Fat proves that fat can be beautiful, evil, pornographic, delicious, shameful, ugly, or magical. It all depends on who-and where-you are.

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