In Feeding Desire, Rebecca Popenoe offers the reader a perspective that is enliveningly different, one in which being overweight is wonderful for women. However, what is most amazing about this study is how many women from totally different civilizations share obvious commonalities. Popenoe investigates the practice of “fattening” among Azawagh Arab women, often known as Moors, through fieldwork in a tiny community in Niger. The Azawagh Arabs start fattening their female offspring at a very young age and continue the practice throughout their lives, although in other cultures this is a pre-marriage custom.
Popenoe contends that fatness is appreciated for solely aesthetic reasons rather than for the “practical” ones that are frequently cited (such as its correlation with fertility or prosperity). Especially for those of us who are ingrained in a culture that makes both biological and moral arguments against obesity, this insight alone makes the essay noteworthy. However, the text also adopts a multifaceted perspective on this practice, understanding it in the context of additional elements such as marriage and patrilineal arrangements, the importance of Islam, blood ties and milk kinship, the complexities of the humoral system, and an especially fascinating consideration of gender and space.
Additionally, Popenoe illustrates the significance of the body in a world with few material possessions, both physically and symbolically. The body is highly valued, tied to culture, and used imaginatively, yet as Popenoe astutely notes, “the “natural” body is never enough” ((Popenoe, 1962, p. 7). She correctly points out that there is a common desire to socialize the natural body. This little Saharan hamlet ethnography therefore resonates with readers of all experiences and backgrounds and is appropriate for study in a variety of academic fields. Although the interconnections of gender, class, and ethnicity are evident throughout this work, the book does not explicitly draw analogies between the Azawagh Arab women and their counterparts in the West.
The only way the ladies of this hamlet may gain weight is if they are not required to do domestic chores because only certain classes of Western women can buy “good” food and have the leisure to exercise. In fact, getting fatter becomes their job. When it comes to ethnicity, “white” Arabs are given preference over “dark” Arabs among the Moors. Although Popenoe points out that this is not necessary about real skin color, a comparison to Western anxieties over physical characteristics and perceived ethnicity may be made. Around the world, young girls and women participate in the socialization of the body by fasting or overeating to the point of discomfort, weariness, and weakness. Although the physical outcomes may be very different, the process is uncannily identical. Body practices can provide a chance for female empowerment and cultural accomplishment. The language may have made these links more obvious, but it is likely more beneficial to let the reader understand how commonplace body socialization is.
Overall, I have enjoyed reading this ethnography. I was intrigued by Popenoe’s candor in confronting discrepancies between the Moor aesthetic standards and her own, societally constructed tastes. Popenoe admits that even at the conclusion of her stay in Niger, ““it would be untruthful to say that I ever became free of my conditioned negative associations with rolls of fat and stretch marks” (Popenoe, 1962, p.188). Such views, together with Popenoe’s perception of how the ladies in her research saw her own body, clearly demonstrate how our perspective may be influenced by our culture. I would recommend this book for everyone interested in discovering new culture and finding more about sociological and anthropological research.
Reference
Popenoe, Rebecca, 1962-. (2004). Feeding desire : fatness, beauty, and sexuality among a Saharan people. Routledge.