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


  • Janvieve Williams Comrie
    Panama Escalates Measures in a Pre Existing Migration Crisis
    17 Jul 2024
    Panama is tightening its border policy to stop migrants from entering the country by making the conditions of migrating through the Darién Gap even more dangerous and inhumane.
  • Malcolm Harris
    The World War on Asylum
    17 Jul 2024
    From Mexico to the Mediterranean, rich countries would rather see refugees die than recognize their legal asylum rights.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 12, 2024
    12 Jul 2024
    In this week’s segment, we examine the difficulty marginalized communities have in securing abortion care in Tennessee, which enacted a ban on the procedure in the wake of the Dobbs decision. We also…
  • Keir Rodney Starmer
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The UK Left Lose Despite a Labour Party Victory
    12 Jul 2024
    Roger McKenzie joins us to examine the recent elections in the UK that brought the Labor Party back to power after 14 years of Tory governance. We discussed how Labour is not the traditional left…
  • Abortion Care Tennessee
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Tennessee Abortion Ban Impacts Marginalized Communities
    12 Jul 2024
    Robyn Baldridge joins to discuss the fight to access abortion care in Tennessee, where they are navigating some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country - including the criminalization of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us