Paper short abstract:

It is often argued that eating disorders are caused by the ideal of thinness, but a case study from India illustrates they should be understood in the wider context of important and rapid social change in which the transformation of women's roles and status is significant and laden with tensions.

Paper long abstract:

Eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, have been discussed as a case of Western culture-bound syndrome; generally, they are understood as a product of preoccupation with body image and glorification of thinness, promoted by the Western fashion trends and media. Accordingly, the few epidemiological studies of eating disorders in South Asia that exist have focused on evaluating women's anxiety about their body image and weight. This paper, however, explores eating disorders in their broader context of profound cultural changes that tend to coincide with the expansion of anorexia nervosa not only in the West, but also in other societies. On the basis of a case study from rural Uttarakhand in North India, the transitions and contradictions in female identity are explored in relation to rapid economic, political, and social development. In the context of Indian culture, where food plays a key role in the creation, confirmation and maintenance of social relationships, food refusal may be interpreted as a form of individual protest against traditional collective values and beliefs about female roles. More importantly, this case study shows that disturbed eating is also related to important dynamic shifts in identity caused by modernization and development of the region, particularly the introduction of Western-style education and work. These changes in life-style produce uncertainties and tensions as the formation and preservation of personal identity, crucially linked to the exchange of vital substances through food and residence sharing, becomes fundamentally disrupted.