Infrastructures Work on Time
Jan 2020
E-Flux Architecture
Timothy Mitchell
Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Africa Studies and of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Focus areas: Middle East politics, colonialism, energy politics, histories of capitalism, politics of expertise
Timothy Mitchell writes about colonialism, political economy, the politics of energy, and the making of expert knowledge. Trained in the fields of law, history, and political theory, he works across the disciplinary boundaries of history and the social sciences. Many of his writings explore materials from the history and contemporary politics of Egypt, where he has conducted research over many years.
He is based at Columbia in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. He also teaches occasionally in SIPA, where his courses explore what he calls technopolitics: how forms of technical and economic knowledge that claim to master the present and provide a path to the future repeatedly turn out to be speculative, misguided, or damaging.
For more information, please visit his personal academic website.
Education
- PhD in Politics and Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
- First Class Honors Degree in History, Queens' College, Cambridge
Honors and Awards
- Distinguished Scholar Award, Theory Section, International Studies Association, 2018
- Ester Boserup Prize, University of Copenhagen, for outstanding research on development and economic history, 2017
Research And Publications
Dec 2016
City
Persian translation Dimukrasi Karboni (Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil)
Sep 2016
Qoqnoos Publishing
Jun 2015
The Arab City: Architecture and Representation
In The Media
Timothy Mitchell visits 'On the Media' to discuss the origins of the idea of "the economy."
Apr 30 2020
WNYC Radio
Scholars discuss how varied topics intersect with public policy.
Oct 19 2016
Jul 19 2015
Jul 04 2015