Capitalism and Vector-Borne Disease with Brent Kaup and Kelly Austin
Episode 142 - September 17, 2025
Brent Kaup (William & Mary University) and Kelly Austin (Lehigh University) come on the podcast to discuss their new book connecting disease and capitalism. They begin by discussing the financialization of America and link it as a cause of climate change. Financialization is also linked to diseases and specifically vector borne diseases through the suburbanization of areas such as Virginia. In parallel, Brent and Kelly also examine financialization in the context of malaria in Uganda, and how the increased exploitation of coffee created an environment that is more conducive to mosquitos, which coincided with a deterioration of the public health system. At the end of the interview, Brent and Kelly discuss how to do co-authorship.
Further Reading
- Austin, Kelly F. “Felling trees, furthering malaria: Links between deforestation and disease in developing nations.” Journal of Population and Sustainability 3, no. 2 (2019): 13-32.
- Austin, Kelly F. 2021. “Degradation and Disease: Ecologically Unequal Exchanges Cultivate Emerging Pandemics.” World Development 137, no. 1 (2021): 105163.
- Galaz, Victor, Juan Rocha, Paula Andrea Sánchez-García, Alice Dauriach, Tarik Roukny, and Peter Søgaard Jørgensen. "Financial influence on global risks of zoonotic emerging and re-emerging diseases: an integrative analysis." The Lancet Planetary Health 7, no. 12 (2023): e951-e962
- Kaup, Brent Z. "Pathogenic metabolisms: a rift and the Zika virus in Mato Grosso, Brazil." Antipode 53, no. 2 (2021): 567-586.
- Kaup, Brent Z. "The making of Lyme disease: a political ecology of ticks and tick-borne illness in Virginia." Environmental Sociology 4, no. 3 (2018): 381-391.
- Singh, Guddi and Jason Hickel. "Capitalogenic disease: social determinants in focus." BMJ Global Health. 8 (2023): e013661.
Our Guests
Brent Kaup
Professor of Sociology – William & Mary University
Kelly Austin
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology – Lehigh University