Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Origins of Debt, Money, Slavery and Empire
21 Sep 2011
🖨️ Print Article

Like most of us, you probably learned in school that people invented money to replace barter, markets are guided by The Invisible Hand, and a debt is a kind of sacred promise.  Like much else you learned in school, says anthropologist David Graeber, this is wrong.  Markets are constructed by states, while the appearance of debt, slavery and money in human affairs coincide with the appearance of violent empires, and recede when empires are in decline.  Debts are only sacred, Graeber explains, when the poor owe the rich, and there are key distinctions between debts and promises.  Graeber, the author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years is interviewed by C.S. Soong on KPFA's Against the Grain...

The Origins of Debt, Money, Slavery and Empire

An Against the Grain Interview by C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley

KPFA.s Against the Grain is consistently one of the best interview shows around.  We at BAR steal ideas from them all the time.  You can find a link to Debt: The First 5,000 Years here.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://www.againstthegrain.org/files/files/atg/atg_2013.01.07_graeber.mp3

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 10, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 10, 2020
    11 Aug 2020
    “Black August” Honors Captives of Armed Struggle
  • Midwives Could Help Stem Maternal and Infant Death Toll
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Midwives Could Help Stem Maternal and Infant Death Toll
    11 Aug 2020
    Dr Sasha Turner, professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, says more extensive use of midwives would reduce skyrocketing increases in maternal birth difficulties, worldwide
  • Insurance Industry Vital to US Slavery
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Insurance Industry Vital to US Slavery
    10 Aug 2020
    Insuring one’s slave “is actually a better financial decision than insuring other kinds of property,” said Dr Michael Ralph, director of Africana Studies at New York Universit
  • Black Brazilians Hit Hard by Covid-19
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Brazilians Hit Hard by Covid-19
    10 Aug 2020
    Brazil and the US lead the world in coronavirus fatalities, with Blacks in both countries dying disproportionately, said Jaime Amparo Alves, an author and social anthropologis
  • “Black August” Honors Captives of Armed Struggle
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    “Black August” Honors Captives of Armed Struggle
    10 Aug 2020
    “Black August started in San Quentin to highlight the armed struggle,” said Jihad Abdulmumit, chairperson of the Jericho Movement, which advocates for political prisoners
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us