Origins of COVID-19: China and Global Capitalism

China's effective containment of the first stage of the COVID-19 epidemic was attributed to its biomedical sciences, population, and economy, but academic and public debate focuses on cultural practices, authoritarianism, and the environment. Li Zhang's book "The Origins of COVID-19" argues that we must understand the origins of emerging diseases in the complex and structural entanglements of state-making, science and technology, and global capitalism to address these larger forces that degrade the environment and increase the human-wildlife interface.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 196 pages
Publication date: 03 August 2021
Publisher: Stanford University Press

A new strain of coronavirus emerged in November 2019, leading to a cluster of patients with severe pneumonia in Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. China's initial containment of the epidemic was praised for its effectiveness, in contrast to the uncontrolled spread in Europe and the United States. However, much academic and public debate has focused on the cultural practice of consuming wild animals and the perceived problem of authoritarianism suppressing information about the outbreak. Li Zhang's book, "The Origins of COVID-19," challenges these narratives and emphasizes the need to understand the origins of emerging diseases in the complex and structural entanglements of state-making, science and technology, and global capitalism. She argues that both narratives, of China's victory and the racist depictions of its culpability, do not address the larger forces that degrade the environment and increase the human-wildlife interface, which can lead to the rapid expansion of novel pathogens into global pandemics.

Weight: 230g
Dimension: 126 x 202 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503630178