Event overview
Join Alex Hern, Economics Writer for the New Statesman, as he talks to David about the book, his academic work and his pivotal role in Occupy Wall Street and other movements.
The Made in Goldsmiths series is designed with our staff and students in mind, and offers the chance to not only find out more about the work that goes on here, but to meet each other in an informal setting.
Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it.
In this award winning and globally best selling book, Graeber presents a stunning reversal of this conventional wisdom. For more than 5000 years, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods. Since the beginning of the agrarian empires, humans have been divided into debtors and creditors. Through time, virtual credit money was replaced by gold and the system as a whole went into decline.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy.
About David Graeber: David is a reader in social anthropology in our Department of Anthropology. He is a prominent activist, and played an early role in the Occupy Wall Street movement, giving it the theme ‘We are the 99 percent’. In Time’s 2012 “Person of the Year” feature on the Protestor, Kurt Anderson wrote that Graeber “nudged the [Occupy] group to a fresh vision.” He is the author of a number of books, including a book based on his extensive anthropological work in Madagascar ‘(The Disastrous Ordeal of 1987: Memory and Violence in Rural Madagascar). He is currently writing a new book for Random House connecting the story of the Occupy movement to an exploration of the past and future of direct action, participatory democracy, and political transformation.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Jan 2013 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
