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book: Excited Delirium
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Excited Delirium

Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2024

About this book

In 1980, Charles Wetli---a Miami-based medical examiner and self-proclaimed “cult expert” of Afro-Caribbean religions---identified what he called “excited delirium syndrome.” Soon, medical examiners began using the syndrome regularly to describe the deaths of Black men and women during interactions with police. Police and medical examiners claimed that Black people with so-called excited delirium exhibited superhuman strength induced from narcotics abuse. It was fatal heart failure that killed them, examiners said, not forceful police restraints. In Excited Delirium, Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús examines this fabricated medical diagnosis and its use to justify and erase police violence against Black and Brown communities. Exposing excited delirium syndrome’s flawed diagnostic criteria, she outlines its inextricable ties to the criminalization of Afro-Latiné religions. Beliso-De Jesús demonstrates that it is yet a further example of the systemic racism that pervades law enforcement in which the culpability for state violence is shifted from the state onto its victims. In so doing, she furthers understanding of the complex layers of medicalized state-sanctioned violence against people of color in the United States.

Author / Editor information

Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús is Olden Street Professor of American Studies at Princeton University and author of Electric Santería: Racial and Sexual Assemblages of Transnational Religion.

Reviews

“At once painful, intimate, and full of insight, Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús’s powerful book sits at the intersection of memoir, anthropology, and religious studies. The spirits have guided her pen to offer a prayer that exposes the lie of ‘excited delirium syndrome’ and, hopefully, will help in the collective undoing of police violence in this country.”

-- Eddie S. Glaude Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, Princeton University

“An unflinching tour de force, Excited Delirium casts a stark light on the shadows where racism, medicine, and systemic injustice meet. With meticulous research and exquisite prose, leading anthropologist Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths and the ways science is manipulated to advance narratives of power and social control—in this case, through a fictitious syndrome that has justified the deaths of Black and Brown people during encounters with law enforcement. This groundbreaking book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the full implications of race and policing in America, illuminating a history that is as enlightening as it is urgent. Beliso-De Jesús’s critical work stands as a beacon in the ongoing discussion on police violence---demanding attention, reflection, and, ultimately, action.”

-- Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s

"A unique addition to the literature on structural racism and police brutality."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"This is a fascinating examination of 'excited delirium syndrome,' which was fabricated in 1980 and used by police to explain that Black and Brown people who died in their custody suffered from heart failure and not police violence. It’s almost unbelievable. Almost."
-- Karla Strand Ms. Magazine

"This study of religion and policing is a profoundly personal, well-researched, deep dive into what it means to use non-white police systems to justify the murder of non-white people. . . . The author rightly calls for abolishing the syndrome, increasing police accountability, and establishing greater separation between police and medical examiners. Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals."
-- Choice

“Beliso-De Jesús weaves a potent historical narrative into her analysis of contemporary police violence cases spanning the last half century. . . . She offers a powerful template for excited delirium to be lobbed back at the dominant culture by reclaiming the experiences of its victims—or, as she articulates, the dead who lead the way.”
-- Mihir Gokhale and Ben Weiss H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Author’s Note: In Warning . . .

    ix
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  • Introduction: Haunted
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    Introduction

    1
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    Journal Entry: Monday, September 20, 2021

    10
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  • 1 Nightmares
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    Introduction

    13
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    Journal Entry: Saturday, September 25, 2021

    26
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  • 2 Bodies
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    Introduction

    29
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    Journal Entry: Saturday, October 2, 2021

    43
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  • 3 Murdered
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    Introduction

    46
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    Journal Entry: Tuesday, November 2, 2021

    58
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  • 4 Manic
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    Introduction

    60
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    Journal Entry: Wednesday, October 13, 2021

    74
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  • 5 Panicked
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    Introduction

    77
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    Journal Entry: Friday, December 17, 2021

    95
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  • 6 Tormented
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    Introduction

    98
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    Journal Entry: Wednesday, March 16, 2022

    117
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  • 7 Brutalized
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    Introduction

    121
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    Journal Entry: Tuesday, December 2, 2021

    134
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  • 8 Excited
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    Introduction

    137
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    Journal Entry: Saturday, January 8, 2022

    150
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  • 9 Forced
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    Introduction

    152
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    Journal Entry: Tuesday, March 22, 2022

    166
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  • 10 Delirious
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    Introduction

    169
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    Journal Entry: Sunday, April 10, 2022

    182
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  • 11 Conjured
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    Introduction

    184
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    Journal Entry: Wednesday, May 25, 2022

    195
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  • 12 Empower
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    Introduction

    197
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    Journal Entry: Thursday, September 8, 2022

    210
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    Afterword

    211
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    Modupué

    215
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    Acknowledgments

    218
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    Glossary

    221
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    Notes

    227
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    Bibliography

    273
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    Index

    293
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 26, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781478059561
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478059561
eBook ISBN: 9781478059561
Keywords for this book
Police Violence; Medical Examiners; Afro-Latine Religions; Systemic Racism; Charles Wetli; Haunting; Afro-Latine spirituality; medicalizing police killings; Excited delirium syndrome; Mariel Boatlift; Fidel Castro; Criminalization of immigrants; Santeria; Palo Monte; Afro-Caribbean religions; tattoos; racist criminology; Marielitos; white medical gaze; Afro-Cuban relations; Miami; serial killer; medicalizing Black murder; cocaine-sex deaths; Black women; Black girls; Combahee River Collective; Black Predator Myth; lynching; lynching media; Bell's mania; Luther Bell; medical frameworks; Satanic Panic; City of Hialeah; racial laboratory; Abner Louima; police brutality; sadistic violence; Vodou; slave patrol; Black aggression trope; NYPD; dehumanization; Natasha McKenna; Tasers; Expert defense industry; White-washing police violence; Taser International Company; George Floyd; Trayvon Martin; Vincent Di Maio; Medical examiner corruption; Restraint asphyxiation; Elijah McClain; ketamine; paramedics; police killings; racialized killings; Sandra Bland; Breonna Taylor; Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette Polanco; Afro-Latine Spiritual Activism; Mario Woods; police abolition; TWA Flight 800 crash
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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