Oleoresin Capsicum
The Racial-Political History of a Ubiquitous Chemical Munition
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3712764 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Terence Keel (0000-0001-7569-1385, UCLA Health), Jonah Walters (0000-0001-7348-9183, UCLA Health) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 114 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 687-709 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Isis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-1753 • E-ISSN: 1545-6994 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/727679 |
| OpenAlex | W4389776381 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
Oleoresin capsicum (OC) is a substance contained in capsicum peppers that produces a range of physiological responses in mammals, including inflammation and respiratory constriction. It is also the active ingredient in the most widely used chemical munition in the United States. OC-based pepper sprays are now issued to police officers by nearly every law enforcement agency in the country. Police use of pepper spray is supported by an ostensibly evidence-based consensus that OC exposure presents no significant risk of lethal injury. This essay examines the peculiar durability of that nonlethality consensus in the face of mounting contradictory evidence. It traces the trajectory of European science that links race and capsaicin sensitivity from colonization to slavery to the twentieth century, while also narrating the emergence of OC-based pepper spray as a distinct and highly desirable category of police weapon. It concludes by exposing medicolegal death examination practices that continually rehabilitate the nonlethality consensus by naturalizing deaths caused by or linked to OC exposure
Agency (philosophy · Biology · Capsaicin · Enforcement · Pepper · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Forensic and Genetic Research · Horticulture · Law
The Body of the Conquistador
The Pre-Columbian Caribbean
The Condemnation of Blackness
“If You Eat Their Food …”
Mexican Workers and U.S. Agriculture
The Delectable Negro
Diffusion of Mesoamerican Food Complex to Southeastern Europe
Fear of Hot Climates in the Anglo-American Colonial Experience
A Consumers' Republic
From "brute" to "thug
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |