Towards a dialogical anthropology : for David Graeber

Grubačić, Andrej (author), Vodovnik, Žiga (author)

This article argues that a holistic reading of David Graeber’s oeuvre reveals a coherent and systematic intellectual and political project. We argue that his theories, public interventions, analyses, or ideas scattered across different (sub)disciplines, formats, and topics as diverse as non-state spaces, anarchist anthropology, democracy, mutual aid, debt, bureaucracy, bullshit jobs, kings and a different understanding of history and the development of science, should be understood as a well-considered and systematic attempt to reimagine and reposition the role of scholarship in a search for a radically different political and economic model. We focus on dialogue as the centre of both Graeber’s scholarship and politics. For Graeber, dialogue has always been the primary anthropological method, not only in terms of fieldwork but also in the context of the collective or dialogic emergence of ideas. At the same time, dialogue is the very core of his politics as a collective attempt to reconcile unconsummatable perspectives in a practical situation of action. Finally, we explore Graeber’s idea of care and freedom as a new political and economic paradigm. We consider Graeber’s simple and yet infinitely complex question: why not use the ideas of care and freedom, instead of production and consumption, as a basis for political economy, which should, after all, only be a way to take care of each other?

• Language: English
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 31.12.2021
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 1-17
• Numbering: Vol. 27, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136424
• UDC: 39:929Graeber D.
• ISSN on article: 2232-3716
• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6469680
• COBISS.SI-ID: 106341891
• Publication date in RUL: 03.05.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Anthropological notebooks
• Publisher: Društvo antropologov Slovenije = Slovene Anthropological Society
• ISSN: 2232-3716
• COBISS.SI-ID: 256898816

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Članek utemeljuje, da celostno branje opusa Davida Graeberja razkriva koherenten in sistematičen intelektualni in politični projekt. Kaže, da je potrebno njegove teorije, javne intervencije, analize ali zgolj ideje razpršene po različnih (pod)disciplinah, formatih in temah—od nedržavnih prostorov, anarhistične antropologije, demokracije, vzajemne pomoči, dolga, birokracije, drekastih služb, kraljev, do drugačnih interpretacij zgodovine in razvoja znanosti—razumeti kot premišljen in sistematičen poskus preoblikovanja in repozicioniranja vloge znanosti v iskanju radikalno drugačnega političnega in gospodarskega modela. V članku se osredotočamo na dialog kot središče Graeberjevega akademskega dela in politike. Za Graeberja je bil dialog vedno primarna antropološka metoda, ne le v smislu terenskega dela, ampak tudi v kontekstu kolektivnega ali dialoškega nastanka idej. Hkrati je dialog jedro njegove politike kot kolektivnega poskusa uskladitve nepremerljivih perspektiv v praktični situaciji delovanja. Na koncu raziskujemo Graeberjevo idejo o skrbi in svobodi kot novi politični in gospodarski paradigmi. Naslovimo Graeberjevo preprosto, a neskončno zapleteno vprašanje: zakaj ne bi namesto ideje proizvodnje in potrošnje kot osnovo za novo politično ekonomijo raje uporabili idejo skrbi in svobode, saj bi gospodarstvo navsezadnje moralo biti le način, kako skrbimo drug za drugega?