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 BIOGRAPHY

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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