Prof Benjamin Smith
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Room: 3.19, third floor of the Faculty of Arts Building Tel: 44 (0)24 76523422 (internal extension 23422) email: b.smith.1@warwick.ac.uk Office hours 2025/6: Monday, 1-2 and Thursday 1-2 or by email appointment. Twitter: @benjamintsmith7 Website: |
Academic Profile
- Professor of Latin American History, 91福利 (2019-present)
- Reader of Latin American History, 91福利 (2016-2019)
- Associate Professor of Latin American History, 91福利 (2013-2016)
- Assistant/Associate Professor of Mexican History, Michigan State University (2005-2012)
- PhD in History, Cambridge University (2006)
Teaching
- (first-year undergraduate History option module)
- HI2E A History of Modern Mexico (second-year undergraduate History option module)
- How did we get where we are today aka The History of Now (HI2K1)
- Narcos: A Global History of the Drug Trade (HI3T6-30)
- HI-2k8: A Global History of Organised Crime
Research
鈥淧eople see what they want to see and what people want to see never has anything to do with the truth.鈥� Roberto Bola帽o, 2666
I have been writing about Mexico for over twenty years. As a historian of nineteenth and twentieth-century grassroots politics, I started my research in the archives, villages, churches, and markets of the predominantly indigenous state of Oaxaca. Since then I have branched out to write about about indigenous politics, Catholicism, conservatism, newspapers, journalism, censorship and civil society.
Now I tend to specialize on twentieth-century politics, the narcotics trade and crime. My most recent book, The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade was published by Ebury/Norton in 2021. If you want to know more about it, go to .
I am currently working on a collection of essays on how the study of organised crime challenges fundamental ideas about state formation, capitalism, and corruption. I am debating whether to call it "Notes from the Underworld" or "Welcome to the Impuniverse". I am also about to finish a biography of Ciudad Ju谩rez drug trafficker, Ignacia "La Nacha" Jasso titled "Queenpin: How one woman ran the border drug trade".
I teach an introductory course on Latin American history, a second year course on Mexican history, a second year course on the history of now, a second year course on the global history of organised crime (in Venice) and a final on the history of the global drug trade.
Outside teaching, I have a literary agent at
Publications
Books
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How the Mexican Revolution came to Mexico鈥檚 most diverse, indigenous state. And the politicians, peasants, village strongmen, and market women who shaped it. |
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. An ethnohistorical study of why peasants embraced the Catholic church and Mexico's national conservative parties. |
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(with Paul Gillingham) Dictablanda: Politics, Work, and Culture in Mexico, 1938–1968 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014). A collection of essays on the creation of the Mexican PRI state. |
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Collected essays of political science, journalism and sociology on the effects of Mexico鈥檚 militarized drug war. |
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(Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2018). The story of the explosion of Mexico鈥檚 newspaper industry, the state that tried to censor it, and the journalists and readers that refused to be muzzled. Winner of the LASA Howard Cline Award |
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(with Paul Gillingham and Michael Lettieri) (Alburquerque: UNM Press, 2018). A collection of essays on the twentieth century Mexican censorship and journalism. |
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(London/New York: Ebury/Norton, 2021). A myth-busting, 100-year history of the Mexican drug trade which how a once-peaceful industry became a violent behemoth Nominated for Edgar True Crime Award Amazon.com History Book of the Year |
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(with Will Pansters) (UNM Press, 2022). A collection of essays on the history of the drug trade and the war on drugs in Mexico. |
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(Penguin Random House, 2022). Spanish translation of The Dope. |
Academic Articles
2024
"El estado, las drogas y la violencia en M茅xico, 1970-1982" in Ariel Rodr铆guez Kuri, Violencias mexicanas, 1920-2020. Once estudios (Colegio de M茅xico, 2024)
(with Tom Long), "State, crime and violence in Mexico, 1920–2000: Arbiters of impunity, agents of coercion," Past and Present
2023
(with Alexander Avi帽a) Mexico's Dirty War: A Reassessment, Bulletin of Latin American Research,
2022
Benjamin T. Smith and Juan Fern谩ndez Vel谩zquez, A History of Opium Commodity Chains in Mexico, 1900–1950, Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 113–127
2020
Benjamin T. Smith and Wil G. Pansters, "U.S. Moral Panics, Mexican Politics, and the Borderlands Origins of the War on Drugs 1950-1962", Journal of Contemporary History 55.2 (2020), pp. 364-87.
Benjamin T. Smith, "Killing a Cabby: The Press, Civil Society, and Justice in 1950s Chihuahua", Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, (2020) 36 (1-2): 127–149.
Benjamin T. Smith, "Introduction", Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos (2020) 36 (1-2): 1–9.
Benjamin T. Smith, "Communal Work, Forced Labor, and Road Building in Mexico, 1920-1958", in David Nugent and Ben Fallaw, State Formation in the Liberal Era: Capitalisms and Claims of Citizenship in Mexico and Peru, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2020), pp. 273-298
2019
Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Nathaniel Morris , Benjamin T. Smith, Journal of Illicit Economies and Development (2019)
Benjamin T. Smith, "Of Saints and Demons: The Santa Muerte in Historical Perspective" in Wil G. Pansters (ed.), La Santa Muerte in Mexico History, Devotion, and Society (Albuquerque: UNM Press, 2019)
Benjamin T. Smith,"The Dialectics of Dope: Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, the Myth of Marijuana, and Mexico鈥檚 State Drug Monopoly" in Susannah Wilson (ed.), Prohibitions and Psychoactive Substances in History, Culture and Theory: Prohibitions and Psychoactive Substances (London: Taylor & Francis, 2019)
Benjamin T. Smith "Prefacio" in Juan Antonio Fern谩ndez Vel谩zquez and Pedro Cazares Aboytes (coords), Actores, Pr谩cticas y Discursos en la Construcci贸n del Estado Mexicano: Siglo XIX y XX (Isumismo Latinoamericanos, 2019), pp. 9-14.
Benjamin T. Smith, "The Paradoxes of the Public Sphere: Journalism, Gender, and Corruption in Mexico, 1940-1970," Journal of Social History Volume 52, Issue 4, Summer 2019, pp. 1330–1354
2018
Benjamin T. Smith, "The Year Mexico Stopped Laughing: The Crowd, Satire, and Censorship in Mexico City" in Paul Gillingham, Michael Lettieri, Benjamin T. Smith, (eds.), Journalism, Satire, and Censorship in Modern Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2018)
Paul Gillingham, Michael Lettieri, Benjamin T. Smith, "Introduction: Journalism, Satire and Censorship in Mexico" in Paul Gillingham, Michael Lettieri, Benjamin T. Smith, (eds.), Journalism, Satire, and Censorship in Modern Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2018)
2017
Wil Pansters, Benjamin T. Smith, Peter Watt, "Introduction: Beyond the Drug War in Mexico" in WIl Pansters, Benjamin T. Smith, Peter Watt, (eds.) Beyond the Drug War in Mexico: Human rights, the public sphere and justice (London, Routledge, forthcoming 2017)
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淓l esp铆ritu de Dios鈥� en los corazones de todos鈥�: La resurgimiento de Catolicismo en la Mixteca Baja, 1867-1910" in Marta Eugenia Ugarte Garc铆a and Matthew Butler, Pablo Serrano Alvarez (eds), M茅xico cat贸lico. Proyectos y trayectorias eclesiales, siglos XIX y XX (Pachuca: Collegio de Hidalgo, 2017), 201-35.
2016
Benjamin T. Smith, "Drug Policies in Mexico, 1900-1980", Beatriz C.Labate, Clancy Cavnar, & Thiago Rodrigues, (eds.), Drug Policies and the Politics of Drugs in Latin America. (Cham: Switzerland, Springer International Publishing, 2016), pp. 33-53.
2014
Benjamin T. Smith, "Building a state on the cheap: Taxation, Social Movements, and Politics" in Benjamin T. Smith and Paul Gillingham (eds.), Dictablanda: Politics, Work, and Culture in Mexico, 1938-1968 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014)
Benjamin T. Smith and Paul Gillingham, "Introduction: The Paradoxes of Revolution" in in Benjamin T. Smith and Paul Gillingham (eds.), Dictablanda: Politics, Work, and Culture in Mexico, 1938-1968 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014)
Benjamin T. Smith, "Who Governed? Grassroots Politics in 1960s Mexico", Past & Present, (November 2014)
Benjamin T. Smith, "Rumbo a una cartografia de Cardenismo" in Tanalis Padilla (ed.), El campesinado y su persistencia en la actualidad mexicana (Mexico City: Conaculta, 2014)
2013
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淩ewriting the Moral Economy: Agricultural Societies and Economic Change in Oaxaca鈥檚 Mixteca Baja, 1830-1910 鈥� in Matthew Butler and Antonio Escobar Ohmstede, (eds), Mexico in Transition: New Perspectives on Mexican Agrarian History, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries/ M茅xico y sus transiciones: reconsideraciones sobre la historia agraria mexicana, siglos XIX y XX, (University of Texas-CIESAS, 2013)
Benjamin T. Smith,"The Rise and Fall of Narcopopulism in Sinaloa, 1940-1980", Journal for the Study of Radicalism (Fall 2013), pp. 125-167.
Benjamin T. Smith and Gabriela Soto Laveaga, (eds,), Special issue of Endeavour on Medicine in Mexico (March 2013)
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淭owards a typology of popular responses to rural medicine in Mexico鈥�, Endeavour, (March 2013)
2012
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淗eliodoro Charis Castro and the soldiers of Juchit谩n: Indigenous Militarism, Local Rule and the Mexican State鈥� in Ben Fallaw and Terry Rugeley (eds.), Forced Marches: Soldiers and military caciques in modern Mexico (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2012)
2010
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淓l Se帽or del Perd贸n y los matacristos de Oaxaca: La Revoluci贸n desde el punto de vista de los cat贸licos鈥�, Desacatos, 28, (2010), pp. 61-76.
Benjamin T. Smith and Keith Aaron Van Oosterhout, 鈥淭he Limits of Catholic Science and the Mexican Revolution鈥�, Endeavour, 34.2 (2010), pp. 55-60.
2009
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淎nticlericalism, Politics, and Freemasonry in Mexico, 1920–1940鈥� The Americas, 65.4 (2009), pp. 559-588.
2008
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淚nventing Tradition at Gunpoint: Caciquismo and Culture in the Regi贸n Mixe, Oaxaca, 1930- 1959鈥�, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 27.2 (2008), pp. 215-234
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥溾�漈he Party of the Priest鈥�: Local Religion in Huajuapam de Le贸n, 1920-1952鈥� in Matthew Butler (ed.), Faith and Impiety in Revolutionary Mexico: God鈥檚 Revolution? (London: Palgrave, 2008), pp. 261-278.
2007
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淒efending 鈥淥ur Beautiful Freedom鈥�: State Formation and Local Autonomy in Oaxaca, 1930- 1940鈥�, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 37.1 (2007), pp. 125-53
2005
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淭he Politics of Anticlericalism and Resistance: The Diocese of Huajuapam 1900-1940鈥�, Journal of Latin American Studies, 37.3 (2005), pp. 469-505
2004
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淣ew lines of inquiry into the post-revolutionary state in Oaxaca (1934-1947)鈥� in Carlos Sanchez Silva (ed.), Historia, sociedad y literatura de Oaxaca. Nuevos enfoques, (Mexico, IIHUABJO-IEEPO, 2004), pp. 67-98.
Benjamin T. Smith, 鈥淓l suicidio de un diputado: La inestablidad del r茅gimen pos-revolucionario鈥�, Agenda Pol铆tica, Periodismo de Investigaci贸n y An谩lisis, 1.2 (2004), pp. 3-9.
Policy Papers
Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Nathanial Morris, and Benjamin T. Smith, Noria Research, Mexico Institute, Justice for Mexico Center, February 2018
Interviews
Press/articles/interviews
Es Extra帽o que si Hubo traici贸n no hubo venganza,Link opens in a new window El Diario de Ju谩rez, 29 July 2024
El Mayo: Los Entresijos,Link opens in a new window Reforma, 28 July 2024
France24, 31 March 2024
Crashout Media, 26 February 2024
21 February 2024
, La Jornada del Oriente, 31 Oct. 2023
(with Alex Avi帽a), Guerrilla History Podcast
(with Alex Avi帽a), NACLA, September 2023.
Letter & Politics, KPFA Radio, Jan. 2023
Soll de M茅xico, Jan 2023
, Aristegui Noticias, Nov. 2022
Expansion Politica, Nov 2022
El Economista, Nov 2022
Paperback Row, NYTRB, 6 August 2022
El Acarreo, 25 July 2022
, The Underground Podcast, June 2022
Scottish Center for Global History, May 2022
Interview with Jules Evans, 16 April 2022
Ricardo L贸pez Cordero, 6 February 2022
Chris White, 4 February 2022
Will Pinfold, 10 November 2021,
Free Thoughts Podcast, T 5 November 2021
Ann Deslandes, Foreign Policy, 3 November 2021
Majority Report, , 26 October 2021
Benjamin Fogel,Jacobin, 15 October 2021
Jeremy Kuzmarov, , Covert Action Magazine, 11 October 2021
Carlos Matienzo, Letras Libres, 11 October 2021
Eduardo Guerrero Guti茅rrez, El FInanciero, 6 September 2021
鈥淲hy it's Impossible to Win the War on Drugs鈥� (my words, not his; follow his youtube channel), 2 September 2021
Nathaniel Parish Flannery, Forbes, 1 September 2021
Time Magazine, 24 August 2021
New York Times Book Review, 15 Aug. 2021
6 August 2021
, 20 July 2021
Facebook Live event, 29 June 2021
Insight Crime, 21 June 2021
June 2021
June 2021
14 June 2021 (10.10 onwards)
Review of The Dope in the FInancial Times, 10 June 2021
With Bill Padley on TalkRadio Europe, On The Dope, 9 June 2021
, On The Dope, 7 June 2021
The mysterious death of Enrique 鈥淜iki鈥� Camarena, Link opens in a new windowThe Independent, 3 June 2021. Long read
El Pais Interview, 26 May 2021
, Radio Formula, 27 May 2021
Why we should remember Nixon鈥檚 War on Drugs, BBC History, May 2021
(With Romain Le Cour Grandmaison and Nathaniel Morris) Nexos, 5/2019
(With Romain Le Cour Grandmaison and Nathaniel Morris) Nexos, 4/2019
, UNC Press Blog, 11/2018
UNC Press Blog, 11/2018
, Animal Pol铆tico, 4/2018
, BBC History Extra, 6/2016
Como manipular a la Prensa? Nexos, 5/2017
, Letras Libres, 9/2016
, Dissent, 7/2016
, Dissent, 12/2014
, Dissent, 11/2014
Guardian, 2/2014
, Dissent, 10/2013
Nexos, 9/2013