Name: On Kings
SKU: 48400924
Price: 32.63 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: David Graeber
ISBN: 9780986132506

Type

Physical Book

Author

David Graeber

Publisher

HAU

Year

2017

Language

English

Pages

550

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

22x15 cm

ISBN13

9780986132506

Synopsis "On Kings"

In anthropology as much as in popular imagination, kings are figures of fascination and intrigue, heroes or tyrants in ways presidents and prime ministers can never be. This collection of essays by two of the world’s most distinguished anthropologists—David Graeber and Marshall Sahlins—explores what kingship actually is, historically and anthropologically. As they show, kings are symbols for more than just sovereignty: indeed, the study of kingship offers a unique window into fundamental dilemmas concerning the very nature of power, meaning, and the human condition.

Reflecting on issues such as temporality, alterity, and utopia—not to mention the divine, the strange, the numinous, and the bestial—Graeber and Sahlins explore the role of kings as they have existed around the world, from the BaKongo to the Aztec to the Shilluk and beyond. Richly delivered with the wit and sharp analysis characteristic of Graeber and Sahlins, this book opens up new avenues for the anthropological study of this fascinating and ubiquitous political figure.

David Graeber

(Author)

View Author's Page

David Graeber (1961-2020) was an American anthropologist, writer, and activist, known for his studies on anarchism, economics, and political anthropology. He was a professor at the London School of Economics and a key figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement. His works have influenced debates on labor, debt, and social organization, establishing him as a critical thinker of capitalism and power structures.

Among his most notable books are Debt: The First 5000 Years (2011), where he examines the history of debt as an economic and social institution, Bullshit Jobs (2018), a critique of the uselessness of certain modern jobs, and The Dawn of Everything (2021), co-written with David Wengrow, which rethinks the history of humanity from an anthropological perspective.

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