Participant observation in obesity research with children: striated and smooth spaces

This article discusses the value of conducting participant observation in obesity research with children in an Australian community setting. Obesity is highly stigmatized, and the use of activity-based interviews exposed the intellectual and embodied consciousness that children negotiate when they take part in research about food and bodies. Instead of opening up possibilities, interview-based activities can lead to a moral correctness about healthy lifestyles. It was through participant observation, in engagement with what Deleuze and Guattari [1988 Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 1988. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone Press. [Google Scholar]. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone Press] call striated and smooth (or regulated and unregulated) spaces of children's everyday activities, that richer understandings of obesity and children's bodies became apparent. We argue that without participant observation, our understandings of what children say and draw about healthy lifestyles may be limited by the striated spaces in which we conduct our research and the constraints that accompany the cultural politics of childhood and obesity.     

State Formation in Southern Africa: A Reply to Kim and Kusimba

Kim and Kusimba misunderstand the archaeological data pertaining to K2, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe because they rely on secondary sources. Before these capitals can be categorized according to definitions of early states elsewhere, they need to be interpreted in their own terms. Ultimately, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe are no less complex because they differ from early states in Asia or Middle America.     

Reviews

NEW GUINEA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS. Peter Hastings. Melbourne, Cheshire, 1969. For the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Pp. 320. $4.95 (hardcover), $3.50 (paperback).

THE EAGLE AND THE LOTUS. J. F. Cairns. Melbourne, Lansdowne Press, 1969. Pp. 240. $4.95 (hardcover), $2.50 (paperback).

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY. R. H. Snape. Melbourne, Longmans, 1969. Pp. vi + 122. $2.50.

THE STERLING AREA, THE COMMONWEALTH AND WORLD ECONOMIC GROWTH. J. O. N. Perkins. Occasional Papers II. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1967. Pp. 120. 17s 6d (U.K.).

NORFOLK ISLAND: AN OUTLINE OF ITS HISTORY 1774–1968. Merval Hoare. St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1969. Pp. 173. $3.95.

BEYOND THE URALS. Violet Conolly. London, Oxford University Press, 1967. Pp. xx + 420. $11.60.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA. R. T. Shand (ed.). Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1969. Pp. 360. $8.50.

JAPAN'S FIRST GENERAL ELECTION, 1890. R. H. P. Mason. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969. Pp. vii + 254. 42/‐ (U.K.).

KOREA AND THE POLITICS OF IMPERIALISM. C. I. Eugene Kim and Han‐Kyo Kim. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1967. Pp. x + 260. $7.00 (U.S.).

THE RUSSO‐CHINESE WAR. George Alexander Lensen. Tallahassee, The Diplomatic Press, 1967. Pp. 315. $15.00 (U.S.).

THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY: SECOND FRONT OF THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT. K. K. Ghosh. Meerut, Meenakshi Prakashan, 1969. Pp. xxi + 351. Rs (Indian) 30.

BRITAIN AND THE PERSIAN GULF, 1894–1914. Briton Cooper Busch. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1968. Pp. XVI + 432. $8.75.

ZAMBIA: INDEPENDENCE AND BEYOND. THE SPEECHES OF KENNETH KAUNDA. Colin Legum (ed.) London, Nelson, 1966. Pp. xiii + 265. 35/‐ (U.K.).

THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY. David B. Capitanchik. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969. Pp. xi + 80. £1 (U.K.).

AUSSENPOLITIK IN ADENAUERS KANZLERDEMOKRATTE. A. Baring. Munich, Forschungsinstitut der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Auswärtige Politik, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1969. Pp. VII + 492.     

Manuscript XXXIII: Threlkeld's Account of the Maro ‘Ura of Opoa,Raiatea

King Tamatoa III, paramount chief of Raiatea, in what became known as the Society Islands, wore a sacred red feather girdle or maro ‘ura on special occasions. Reproduced here is an account of the girdle by the missionary Lancelot Threlkeld, recalling the year 1821 when Tamatoa showed him the girdle and stated his intention of presenting it to the London Missionary Society. Threlkeld highlighted the human sacrifices made in the course of the maro's manufacture and the paranormal powers attributed to the maro. Because maro ‘ura belonged to competing chiefly lineages, the discussion below leads to the question of whether there were two maro ‘ura held by the competing lineages on Tahiti, only one of which was the so-called Wallis maro ‘ura.