Rule of Experts :Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity

3.80 ( 51 Ratings by Goodreads)
Rule of Experts

Rule of Experts :Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity

3.80 (51 Ratings by Goodreads)
paperback
Published: 6 December, 2002
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Description

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.
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More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9780520232624
ISBN10 0520232623
Number Of Pages 429
Item Weight 590 g
Product Dimensions 152 x 229 x 30 mm
Publisher / Reseller University of California Press
Format paperback
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Media Reviews

“Timothy Mitchell’s new book is brilliant. Written for academics . . . the writing is superb. The prose is luminous and limpid, undergirded by steely passion and resolve.” * EPD: Society and Space *
Rule of Experts is the most exciting and intellectually stimulating book about the Middle East to come my way in a long time. It is a brilliant set of inter-related essays about late-19th- and 20th-century Egypt. . . . This book will surely be required reading for most students and faculty in Middle East studies.” * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
Rules of Experts is the most significant collection of essays by a single author to be produced in contemporary Middle East social science in a generation. There is no one writing today in the field more important than Mitchell.” * Middle East Journal *
“The importance of this book goes well beyond the study of Egypt and the Middle East, making it a must read for everyone interested in the formations and effects of modern power.” * Transforming Anthropology *

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Author's Bio

Timothy Mitchell, Professor, Department of Middle East and Asian Studies, Columbia University, is the author of Colonising Egypt (California, 1991, with a new preface), and editor of Questions of Modernity (2000).

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