On March 30, I will present a paper titled "Applying Christian Logic: Fat, Metabolic Disorders, and Social Support" (see below) on the panel "Fat Matters: Applied Aspects of Obesity Research" organized by Nicole Taylor and Eileen Anderson-Fye. Other participants include: Sarah Trainer, Alex Brewis, Amber Wutich, Lisa Rubin, Stephanie McClure and discussant Kathryn Oths.

Applying Christian Logic: Fat, Metabolic Disorders, and Social Support
Scholars and practitioners have long identified the church as a point of access to communities and, increasingly, religious practice as a source of health-giving properties. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in healthcare and Pentecostal churches in Samoa, this paper explores potential synergies between obesity prevention and Christianity. First, I explore the differences between engaging religiously-based health logics and utilizing the church as a site for program development. Then I examine social support in Pentecostal practice as a religiously-based mode of achieving wellness, which is often directed at changing behaviors to heal metabolic disorders, or lose weight.