Jessica Hardin

Faith and the Pursuit of Health explores how Pentecostal Christians manage chronic illness in ways that sheds light on health disparities and social suffering in Samoa, a place where rates of obesity and related cardiometabolic disorders have reached population-wide levels. Pentecostals grapple with how to maintain the health of their congregants in an environment that fosters cardiometabolic disorders. They find ways to manage these forms of sickness and inequality through their churches and the friendships developed within these institutions. Examining how Pentecostal Christianity provides many Samoans with tools to manage day-to-day issues around health and sickness, Jessica Hardin argues for understanding the synergies between how Christianity and biomedicine practice chronicity.

Cardiometabolic Disorders in Samoa

Faith and the Pursuit of Health

Alexandra Brewis

Amber Wutich

Sarah Trainer

Cindi SturtzSreetharan

This unique comparative ethnography uses a systematic and nuanced approach to delve into the myriad meanings of "being fat" within and across different global sites.

Jessica Hardin

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