Fat: The Anthropology of an Obsession

by Anne Meneley and Don Kulick

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585423866
• ISBN13: 9781585423866
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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!