The main focus of the research was on the high concentration of obesity rates among the Native Hawaiians of the Wai'anae Coast. Through a few months of research and voluntary work at the Makaha Farm and at the Wai'anae Medical Center, aimed at analysing the centrality of the body in the identity issues, the research highlighted a very specific bodily politics of the local native identity. The embodiment processes mirrored the disadvantageous political position of the native population on the coast.
The PhD investigation focused on the social and physical weight of the body in Tonga. Through the analysis of the eating habits and patterns, the beauty and body size ideals and the local notion of health, the research findings highlighted a non correspondence between the western optimal size promoted by the global health policies and the local notion of appropriate body and weight. Special attention was therefore given also to global and local health policies, strategies and programs, active in the "war" against obesity and NCDs.