Second Year Course In The Study Of Contemporary Society Social Science Ii

Author : Timothy Mitchell
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520928253
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Download or read book Rule of Experts written by Timothy Mitchell and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2002-11-18 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can one explain the power of global capitalism without attributing to capital a logic and coherence it does not have? Can one account for the powers of techno-science in terms that do not merely reproduce its own understanding of the world? Rule of Experts examines these questions through a series of interrelated essays focused on Egypt in the twentieth century. These explore the way malaria, sugar cane, war, and nationalism interacted to produce the techno-politics of the modern Egyptian state; the forms of debt, discipline, and violence that founded the institution of private property; the methods of measurement, circulation, and exchange that produced the novel idea of a national "economy," yet made its accurate representation impossible; the stereotypes and plagiarisms that created the scholarly image of the Egyptian peasant; and the interaction of social logics, horticultural imperatives, powers of desire, and political forces that turned programs of economic reform in unanticipated directions. Mitchell is a widely known political theorist and one of the most innovative writers on the Middle East. He provides a rich examination of the forms of reason, power, and expertise that characterize contemporary politics. Together, these intellectually provocative essays will challenge a broad spectrum of readers to think harder, more critically, and more politically about history, power, and theory.