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Graeber anarchist anthropology11/11/2023 In such situations, the bereaved could be forced to accept monetary compensation (often by the state). Graeber held that money emerged primarily to represent unpayable debts, such as ‘blood debts’ or ‘life debts,’ as he preferred to call them, which emerge when a life is taken and the only possible repayment is another life. He argued that, in fact, debt precedes currency money is an abstract representation of debt. Graeber applied this understanding of value in his 544-page bestselling book Debt: The First 5,000 Years*, in which he problematized the common presentation of economic history-that society evolved from a barter system to one with a set currency and eventually to a credit economy. Synthesizing a Marxist understanding of commodities, alienation, and commodity fetishism with the theory of gift exchange and reciprocity of early twentieth-century anthropologist Marcel Mauss, he developed a theory applicable to both capitalist and non-capitalist societies. Graeber’s most important scholarly contribution may be his theory of value which, though rooted in anthropological discourses, draws on sociology, linguistics, psychology, and economics. He was not an “anarchist anthropologist”-rather, he advocated for an “anarchist anthropology.” Raised by working-class intellectuals, Graeber always ensured that his work was both academically innovative and politically impactful. As he stated in his Twitter bio, he viewed “anarchism as something you do” rather than an identity. Although his work was deeply rooted in an anthropological lineage, it was above all informed by his commitment to an emancipatory politics of anarcho-communism. His research ranged from the legacy of slavery in Madagascar to the financialization of capital and the global economic crisis.Ĭhief among his academic contributions are his anthropological approach to a theory of value and his incisive analysis of state bureaucracy. He was among the most influential and innovative contemporary anthropologists and a committed activist. On September 2, David Graeber died in Venice, Italy.
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