Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA

ic effects, such as vaccine hesitancy and the politicization of public health policy and management, but she focuses most on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on marginalized populations. She emphasizes that to be a citizen is to have rights, but in a system with entrenched social inequalities, not all citizens have equal and full rights. The poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and queer populations whose health views, approaches, and identities are not represented in biomedicine have partial citizenship, so they are treated as lesser. In biomedical imperialism, Katz Rothman argues, rights are afforded to those with money and power, and the system devalues anyone who goes against biomedicine’s values. Perhaps the biggest lesson we can learn about the Biomedical Empire from COVID-19 is how a lack of biomedical citizenship represents an assault on personhood, rendering marginalized populations invisible. In a time where anti-science sentiment is rampant, Katz Rothman is rightly careful to emphasize that she is not claiming that medical solutions have no role in health. Rather, her point is that medicine’s ability to save lives and improve quality of life does not mean that the Biomedical Empire is less of an empire. Medicine’s successes do not negate its destructive capacities. In fact, these successes, along with the stated goals of the Empire—to lengthen life, improve quality of life, and save lives—can mask its underlying agendas and failures. This book contends that a sociological approach to studying biomedicine, and the notion of the Biomedical Empire in particular, centers its true priorities. In the spirit of the sociological imagination, Katz Rothman translates her sociological perspective into actionable alternatives to biomedical imperialism, such as defunding hospitals and supporting care in communities, based on lessons from COVID-19. Katz Rothman does not mince words in her concluding remarks, proclaiming that restoring public health requires the overthrow of the Biomedical Empire. This book is wonderfully engaging, with Katz Rothman at times referencing examples from her personal life to illustrate points, and not overly pedantic. Therefore, it would appeal to both advanced academic and undergraduate audiences. In reading, I found myself wondering how biomedical citizenship varies in different countries. The Biomedical Empire has been firmly established, but its effects are different in cultures where biomedical intrusion is somewhat recent. What does being a biomedical citizen mean in a culture where biomedicine is intermixed with traditional therapies? What are the different forms of biomedical citizenship that emerge in these contexts? This is an exciting line of investigation for future research.