Mia Bloom

Mia Bloom is a Professor of Communication and Middle East Studies at Georgia State University and an International Security Fellow at New America. She specializes in terrorism, radicalization, and cyber extremism, conducting ethnographic fieldwork across Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. Fluent in eight languages, she has authored multiple influential books including Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon (2021) and Small Arms: Children and Terrorism (2019).

• Ph.D. in Political Science, Columbia University (1999)
• M.A. in Arab Studies, Georgetown University (1991)
• B.A. in History and Islamic/Middle East Studies, McGill University (1989)

Her research focuses on the evolving roles of women in terrorism, child soldiers, and the psychological drivers of extremist behavior. She has pioneered analysis of QAnon’s impact on families and the radicalization mechanisms behind incel extremism. Her recent work examines how terrorist groups weaponize gender norms and exploit digital platforms for recruitment.

Scientific awards include:

• New York Times Top 10 book (2021) for Pastels and Pedophiles
• Grawemeyer Award nomination (2022) for the same work
• Grawemeyer Award honorable mention (2020) for Small Arms
• Previous Grawemeyer nomination for Dying to Kill (2007)

Bloom has held academic positions at Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, and McGill Universities. She serves as series editor for Stanford University Press on terrorism and political violence, and is a frequent media commentator on national security for CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. Her fieldwork innovations include studying ISIS operations on encrypted platforms like Telegram.