Blake Smith

Blake Smith is a historian of European interactions with South Asia and a postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute. His essays regularly appear on Aeon.co, Scroll.in and other media.

5 Posts

Understanding and Misunderstanding 'Dog-Whistling'

It is common to hear from the alt-right that words like ‘diversity’ are dog-whistles for anti-white racism.

Blake Smith

16 Jul 2018 · 10 min read

Who's Afraid of Tribalism?

Common fear of ‘tribalism’ reveals them to be members of a particular kind of ‘tribe,’ one that perpetuates its power by accusing opponents of tribalism.

Blake Smith

1 Jun 2018 · 10 min read

Why We Say 'Islamism' and Why We Should Stop

‘Islamism’ seems to offer the possibility of distinguishing Islam, the religion of over a billion Muslims, from the actions and ideas of violent movements that act in its name.

Blake Smith

11 Feb 2018 · 7 min read

The Problems of “Privilege”: Lessons from the French Revolution

It has almost been forgotten that the concept of privilege, and critiques of privilege as the source of society’s ills, are nothing new in history.

Blake Smith

3 Nov 2017 · 9 min read

Muslim Vikings and Abuses of History

Why did a flimsy interpretation of a small artefact from provincial Sweden seem so important to the English-language world’s most powerful news outlets?

Blake Smith

27 Oct 2017 · 5 min read