Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice

Raj Patel and physician Rupa Marya, co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, examine the connections between health and structural injustices. They argue that bodies, societies, and the planet are inflamed—evident in racial disparities in pandemic impact, rising inflammatory illnesses like gastrointestinal disorders and asthma, systemic racism, and climate displacement. The book tours the human body's major systems—digestive, endocrine, circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, immune, and nervous—to reveal hidden relationships between biological systems and political and economic injustices. Inflammation connects to diet, air quality, and internal microbes that regulate brain development and immune function. It also relates to childhood trauma, ancestral trauma, and healthcare access and models. Patel and Marya propose decolonization as a remedy: a deep medicine that heals divisions and restores relationships with the Earth and each other. The work combines recent scientific research on globalization with Marya's patient stories from marginalized communities, activist perspectives, and Indigenous wisdom to suggest how deep medicine might heal both bodies and the world.