ABSTRACT
Obesity has been described as a culture-bound syndrome (Ritenbaugh, 1982), and this is a theme that recurs throughout this volume. 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, and desirable body image, health and healthiness, and the impact of modernization on all of these. Obesity, fatness and large body size are terms which vary in the degree to which they describe a desirable or undesirable, healthy or unhealthy state, while health and perceptions of healthiness can vary across cultures and time. And while placing the analysis of change in these factors in the context of modernization, this process varies from place to place and is not uniform in its biological and social effects.
