Igor De Garine, Nancy J. Pollock

'Usage of the terms obesity and fatness is important, since, taken collectively, the authors present, among other things, a cross-cultural overview of perceptions of obesity, fatness and large body size, desirable body image, health and healthiness, and the impact of modernization on all of these.' - From Stanley J. Ulijaszek's epilogue 'Social Aspects of Obesity: A Critique'

• I: Cultural Fattening Processes; 1: Food and Fatness in Calabria; 2: Physique of Sumo Wrestlers in Relation to Some Cultural Characteristics of Japan; 3: Sociocultural Aspects of the Male Fattening Sessions among the Massa of Northern Cameroon; 4: Fertility and Fat: The Annang Fattening Room; 5: Social Fattening Patterns in the Pacific—the Positive Side of Obesity. A Nauru Case Study; 6: Taste, Food Regimens and Fatness. A Study in Social Stratification; 7: Vegetarianism and Fatness: An Undervalued Perception of the Body; II: Physical and Social Aspects; 8: Potential Advantages and Disadvantages of Human Obesity; 9: Obesity and Physical Fitness: An Age-Dependent Functional and Social Handicap; 10: Obesity and Overweight in Polish Men and Women: Social Determinants; 11: Educational Attainment, Stress Hormones, Body Fat and Health: A Sociocultural Neuroendocrine Pathway?; III: Social Phenomena Associated with Obesity; 12: Changing Food Consumption and Body Images among Malays; 13: Polynesian Responses to Modernization: Overweight and Obesity in the South Pacific; 14: Activity Level and Obesity among Samoans; 15: Obesity and Fatness as seen by the Azande in Central Africa; 16: Evaluation of Fatness in Traditional Japanese Society; 17: Social Aspects of Obesity and Fatness: A Critique; 18: Social Aspects of Obesity and Fatness: Conclusion