Timothy Mitchell

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Timothy P. Mitchell is Professor of Politics at New York University. He “arrived in the United States in 1977 to start a Ph.D. in Politics” at Princeton. ^[1] He “was surprised to discover that the Politics Department at Princeton was teaching the same old positivism. I was interested in the politics of the Arab world, having traveled there several times, so I evaded political science by taking courses in Middle Eastern history and Arabic language and spent three of the next six years studying and researching in Cairo. Meanwhile, Discipline and Punish had just appeared in English and Orientalism came out a year later. I read these against the Marx I had studied as an undergraduate, and moved on to Derrida and Heidegger, all of which informed the book I eventually produced, Colonising Egypt.. ^[2] He is an expert on the economy of modern Egypt, and an adherent of Postcolonialism.

Jeffrey Azarva has called Mitchell’s book Colonising Egypt. “a staple (of university syllabi.) Less incisive and littered with deconstructionist jargon and references to the late literary theorist and polemicist Edward Said, Mitchell's book rests on the theory that the roots of colonialism are as much "internal" as "external." Nineteenth century reforms and modernization, Mitchell asserts, were backdoor attempts to subjugate Egypt to British influence. Urban planning enabled subjugation. Absent from his analysis, though, is mention of the fiscal irresponsibility which pushed Egypt into debt and motivated British occupation.” ^[3]

Mitchell responded to 9/11 by placing the ultimate blame on American “support for autocracy” in the Muslim world and on Israel, asserting that “Washington continues to side with the exclusionary politics and expansionist militarism of the Israeli government. Most Palestinians endure this American-funded violence and collective imprisonment with a quite extraordinary forbearance and fortitude. But the resources for collective resistance are very few, the rule of the Palestinian authority is increasingly inept and corrupt, and for some the politics of despair and a reactive violence are never far away.” ^[4]

[edit] Political Activity

Mitchell is a supporter of the academic boycott against Israel. ^[5] ^[6]

In 2002 Mitchell signed a letter condemning Israel in advance for an alleged plan to exploit a war against Saddam Hussein to engage in "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians. ^[7] No evidence of such a plan ever surfaced. ^[8]

Mitchell also signed a petition “La démocratie en Iran, pas la guerre Trois cents intellectuels appellent l’ONU à faire pression pour les droits de l’homme sans se focaliser sur le nucléaire.” ^[9] A letter condemning “US policy (towards Iran) over the past 50 years.” ^[10] A letter supporting the right of NYU graduste teaching assistants to make their own decision on unionization. ^[11] And many other political open letters signed by academics. ^[12] ^[13] ^[14]

[edit] Books

Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity University of California Press, 2002.
Questions of Modernity, University of Minnesota Press, 2000 (editor and contributor).
Colonising Egypt, University of California Press, 1991.