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Benjamin T. Smith

Fulbright Fellow, Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Warwick

Benjamin T. Smith

Residency: September 2022 – December 2022

Research Project: Policing of Mexico in the 20th century

Benjamin T. Smith has been writing about Mexico for over 20 years. As a historian of 19th and 20th century grassroots politics, he started his research in the archives, villages, churches and markets of the predominantly indigenous state of Oaxaca. Since then, he has branched out to write about indigenous politics, Catholicism, conservatism, newspapers, journalism, censorship and civil society.

Now he tends to specialize on 20th century politics, the narcotics trade and crime. Smith’s most recent book, “The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade” was published by Ebury/Norton in 2021.

Outside teaching, Smith has a literary agent at Janklow and Nesbitt, provides expert witness reports for Mexican refugees in the United Kingdom and the U.S. and is honored and slightly surprised to be a member of the Noria: Mexico and Central America research program.