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The first STS Colloquium in the 2005-2006 series will be held on Monday,
September 12<sup>th</sup>:<br>
<br><br>
<font size=5 color="#0000FF">THE WORK OF ECONOMICS: <br>
HOW A DISCIPLINE MAKES ITS WORLD<br><br>
</font> <br>
What is the work of economics? How does it operate to establish facts and
make them stable? Taking the case of a recent "natural
experiment" that used the social world as a laboratory and produced
remarkable results, enthusiastically received by economists and
development agencies, Mitchell examines the work of organizing the
socio-technical world required to produce economic knowledge. He explores
the curious kind of facts that were produced, the connections among those
involved in this work, in particular the organized work of the global
neoliberal movement, and the role of the new facts in making possible
further efforts at economic experimentation.<br><br>
Our speaker will be Timothy Mitchell, a political and social theorist who
studies the political economy of the Middle East, the political role of
economics and other forms of expert knowledge, and the place of
colonialism in the making of modernity. His most recent book is <i>Rule
of Experts</i> (2002). Educated at Cambridge University and Princeton
University, he is now Professor of Politics at New York University. From
1996 to 2003 he served as Director of NYU's Center for Near Eastern
Studies. He is currently the director of a four-year project on "The
Authority of Knowledge in a Global Age" at the International Center
for Advanced Studies at NYU.<br><br>
Please join us Monday afternoon for Professor Mitchell's talk at 4:00
p.m. in E51-095. <br><br>
A reception will immediately follow the colloquium and discussion
period.<br><br>
See you there!<br><br>
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Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-253-4062</body>
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