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


  • Ron Daniels
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EDITORIAL: Ron Daniels and the Haiti Support Project [are] at it Again…, Ezili Dantò, 2005
    26 Jun 2024
    A 2005 editorial from Ezili Dantò reminds us that when it comes to Haiti, Black huckster Ron Daniels is cruising on the wrong side of history.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ansar Allah Are Not Working with Al-Shabaab - Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad
    26 Jun 2024
    US and EU forces have been unable to defeat Ansar Allah and now the US is floating a story that they’re working with Al Shabaab.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’
    26 Jun 2024
    "Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Free All Political Prisoners –- Including Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
    26 Jun 2024
    Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning paid a high price for revealing U.S. vicious criminality in Iraq. Their experiences are indicative of how far the state will go to silence anyone who reveals its…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle”: An Interview with Erica Caines
    26 Jun 2024
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle” is a space for parent-organizers to share their experiences and struggles with parenting. BAR Book Forum Editor, Roberto Sirvent will speak to…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us