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


  • Norman Finkelstein: Truth and Justice Are the Ultimate Test, Not International NGOs
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Norman Finkelstein: Truth and Justice Are the Ultimate Test, Not International NGOs
    02 Jun 2021
    Even Human Rights Watch says Israel is committing crimes against humanity in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in Gaza, and the idea of a Jewish state in the context of Palestine is not legit
  • Freedom Rider: Lab Leak Theory and Anti-China Mania
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Lab Leak Theory and Anti-China Mania
    02 Jun 2021
    Most virologists still believe that COVID-19 is far more likely to have originated naturally, but US espionage and disinformation agencies disagree.
  • Return of the Lab Leak Conspiracy Shows Biden is a Democrat with Trumpian Characteristics on China
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Return of the Lab Leak Conspiracy Shows Biden is a Democrat with Trumpian Characteristics on China
    02 Jun 2021
    Now Biden and his top allies have given credence to the lab leak conspiracy, as they escalate their confrontation with China.
  • ESSAY: Knife Edge: Living with Domestic and Economic Violence, Andiaye, 2013
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Knife Edge: Living with Domestic and Economic Violence, Andiaye, 2013
    02 Jun 2021
    Andiaye, a tireless advocate for the rights and welfare of women in Guyana, agitated against the system’s “way of organizing the economy which creates poverty and then criminalizes it.”
  • MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
    02 Jun 2021
    The Mass Shooting Of The Day— this time was in San Jose… Do you know the way to San Jose?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us