Politics: An Interview with W. J. T. Mitchell

Abstract

In this wide-ranging interview W. J. T. Mitchell discusses his commitment to politics, cultural politics, and the politics of culture. Always engaging, always stimulating, always provocative, he speaks at length about Barack Obama, the events of 11 September 2001, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Grhaib, and his time travelling, lecturing, and teaching in some of the world's most highly charged territories: Israel, Palestine, Cuba, and China. Forever listening and learning, in this interview Mitchell displays his passion for and his dedication to intellectual life. Here, as in the rest of his work, he provides the best kind of object lesson in how reading, looking, studying, criticising, analysing, and trying to understand all raise the question, in their own unique ways, of what it means to be political, what it means to do politics.