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


  • Sam Biddle
    U.S. Military Makes First Confirmed OpenAI Purchase for War-Fighting Forces
    30 Oct 2024
    The Pentagon explored the AI software for research, but the new deal is the first by a combatant command whose mission is one of killing.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio October 25, 2024
    25 Oct 2024
    In this week’s segment, we hear about protests in Martinique, an overseas department of France, where the people struggle against economic oppression and discriminatory treatment. But first, we…
  • Barack Obama
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Obama Scolds While Harris Implodes
    25 Oct 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro joins us to discuss the latest twists and turns of the 2024 presidential election. Barack Obama felt compelled to scold Black men, while Kamala Harris talked endlessly about…
  • Martinique protest
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Martinique's History of Resistance
    25 Oct 2024
    Roddy Rod is an anti-Kepone activist, pan-African, anti-imperialism resident of Martinique. He is also a resident of the African nation the Ivory Coast. He joins us to discuss recent protests in…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The U.S. Continues Its Terror Campaign Against Cuba
    23 Oct 2024
    The ongoing U.S./Israeli genocide has diverted attention away from other crimes. The electricity crisis in Cuba is but one example of how the U.S. determination to dominate has created suffering…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us