Epidemiological-environmental genocide and neoliberal urbanization: a critique of the political economy of the territorial production of disease
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58594/rtest.v5i3.184Keywords:
Environmental degradation, environmental health, political economy, public health, social geography, social movements, urban developmentAbstract
This study developed the concept of territorial epidemiological-environmental genocide as a theoretical and political tool to critically examine the health consequences of neoliberal territorial development. From a materialist perspective rooted in the critique of political economy, political ecology, and Latin American critical epidemiology, the research reinterpreted the relationship between urban-industrial restructuring and the structural production of disease in devastated territories. A qualitative, critical, and interdisciplinary methodology was applied, using a theoretical-documentary approach based on indexed academic sources (2020–2025), analyzed through geosocial categories. The results showed that the neoliberal urbanization process functioned as a harmful metabolism of capital, producing zones of socio-environmental sacrifice and exposing communities to chronic contamination. The category of epidemiological-environmental genocide proved useful in explaining the historical and territorial patterns of morbidity and mortality, and in contrasting dominant frameworks such as necropolitics or slow violence. The study also identified emerging collective health practices rooted in territorial resistance and popular knowledge. These practices included grassroots epidemiological surveillance, critical cartographies developed with GIS, and the construction of autonomous health strategies oriented toward environmental justice and the defense of life. In conclusion, the study argued that disease and premature death in specific territories were not isolated or random phenomena, but expressions of structural violence inherent to neoliberal capitalism. By naming this process as genocide, the research sought to decommodify knowledge, politicize public health, and promote the articulation between critical science and social movements committed to building new territorial and epistemic sovereignties in the face of civilizational crisis.
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