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Democracy is easily lauded, but it糖心传媒檚 a complicated proposition, says W. J. T. Mitchell, this year糖心传媒檚

糖心传媒淲e talk about democracy as if it糖心传媒檚 an unmixed value,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淏ut we糖心传媒檝e known since the Athenian democracy that it goes along with imperial adventurism, which was the downfall of Athens, and with the rise of tyrants and demagogues.

糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 at the foundation of the democratic ideal, that it has to be hedged in by limits.糖心传媒�

Mitchell is the Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago. His work involves broad questions of representation and imagery, and he frequently investigates issues of cultural politics and political culture.

While at Rochester, Mitchell will participate in a series of conversations about mass irrationality, delusion, and the representation of madness.

糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 looking at the concept of madness in a very broad sense, as a social problem, as well as an individual issue,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淢ob psychology and mass psychology are as important to the project as individual neurosis or psychosis.糖心传媒�

Part of his visit will be devoted to discussing questions of madness in film and art. He糖心传媒檒l participate in a screening and panel called 糖心传媒淐razy Talk: Madness and Montage in Film.糖心传媒� He糖心传媒檒l also take part in a conversation聽at the Memorial Art Gallery, with artist Javier T茅llez, about cinema and mental health .

Mitchell糖心传媒檚 son, Gabriel, was a filmmaker, who lived for 20 years with schizophrenia. One of his ambitions was to make a film about the entire history of madness as a cultural formation. He planned to look back to the Greeks and non-Western cultures and embrace both collective and individual forms of irrationality, Mitchell says.

He carried on the work after Gabriel took his own life five years ago, now writing a book that began as background research for his son糖心传媒檚 film.

糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a personally motivated project, but the personal, as we know, is political,糖心传媒� he says.

And politics will fall under Mitchell糖心传媒檚 lens during his campus visit, too. He糖心传媒檒l deliver a public lecture on April 19 that will probe the group psychology of American voters.

糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檙e seeing a dramatic laboratory test of the endemic problems of democracy right now,糖心传媒� he says.

A scholar of images and the editor-in-chief of Critical Inquiry, an influential journal of arts, culture, and politics, Mitchell plans to discuss President Donald Trump as a cultural icon. 糖心传媒淓very president has an image, and that image is subject to caricature,糖心传媒� he says. But Trump seems impervious, and Mitchell will devote some of his talk to examining that immunity.

He views the current political landscape, which he sees shaped by collective irrationality, with alarm. Legal structure, he says, is the bulwark against what he calls a 糖心传媒渉istorical nightmare.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淥ne of the reasons why it糖心传媒檚 so important to have a constitution that糖心传媒檚 durable and respected is that a constitution is a way of addressing collective psychology. The founders saw that in an individual person, what you might call a balanced mentality involves deliberation, careful forethought, a kind of argument in which you consider all alternatives, and then the establishment of rules and guidelines糖心传媒攕elf-regulation,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淭he division of powers between the executive, the legislative, and the judicial was crucial, partly because it糖心传媒檚 a kind of psychological allegory. It糖心传媒檚 a model of a well-balanced psyche.糖心传媒�

But when the elements don糖心传媒檛 function properly糖心传媒攚hen any element is too powerful, or corrupted糖心传媒攖he Constitution is endangered. Mitchell says: 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 why everyone says we糖心传媒檙e headed for a constitutional crisis.糖心传媒�

But he also sees signs for hope. He calls the legal probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller 糖心传媒渁 sign of good health.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭here are antibodies in the body politic. And the law is one of them.糖心传媒�