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


  • Imperialism
    John Parker
    Imperialism
    27 Apr 2022
    The word imperialism has been used and misused often as the crisis in Ukraine continues. An understanding of its meaning is important in any analysis.
  • The Nuclear Threat From Beyond the Ideological Compass
    Jeremy Miller
    The Nuclear Threat From Beyond the Ideological Compass
    27 Apr 2022
    The expiration of nuclear treaties between the U.S. and Russia mean that conventional wars bring a risk of nuclear weapons use.
  • Canada and the Overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah
    Owen Schalk
    Canada and the Overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah
    27 Apr 2022
    April 27, 2022 is the 50th anniversary of Kwame Nkrumah's death. He was ousted from the Ghanaian presidency by Canadian trained elements of his own military who were also supported by the CIA.…
  • Devastation in Durban
    New Frame
    Devastation in Durban
    26 Apr 2022
    The floods that have wreaked havoc in the shacklands of Durban, South Africa are another searing indictment of the social abandonment of the majority by a predatory political elite.
  •  Presentation of the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize by the International Women’s Network for Democracy and Peace to Mr. John Philpot
    John Philpot
    Presentation of the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize by the International Women’s Network for Democracy and Peace to Mr. John Philpot
    26 Apr 2022
    Canadian attorney John Philpot received the Victoroire Ingabire Umuhoza Prize for Democracy and Peace on March 19, 2022.  The prize is given in recognition of the Rwandan former political…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us