Hardin, “Christianity, Fat Talk, and Samoan Pastors”
Abstract: Anthropology, public health, and epidemiology have long researched meanings of body size and factors that contribute to epidemiological transition. The author draws attention to a dichotomous framework operating with these fields where fat-positive and fat-negative cultures are represented as oppositional. Drawing from fieldwork among Samoan evangelical Christians, the author argues that contextual analysis of fat reveals ambiguity and ambivalence. In Samoa, negative and positive meanings associated with fat are dynamically engaged. In conclusion, she argues that representing fat in dichotomous terms is Othering because “the West” is represented as the fat-negative while “the rest” is represented as fat-positive.