Pirate Enlightenment, or Real Libertalia
14.99 €
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Pirate Enlightenment, or Real Libertalia
14.99 €
The last and posthumously published book by the American anthropologist David Graeber (1961–2020) is the result of his expedition to Madagascar, where he went as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. In his work, Graeber sharply criticizes the Eurocentric view, according to which "savage peoples" can become civilized only as a result of competent management by Europeans.
This book is a bold attempt to return anthropology and ethnography to its original purpose: the search for an alternative view of the development of society and culture. Graeber "decolonizes the Enlightenment", proving that the origins of the ideas of equality, freedom and justice should be sought outside of "Western civilization". He unequivocally states that those very fictional egalitarian "pirate kingdoms" like Libertalia actually existed in one way or another. Using the example of the Betsimissary Confederation, Graeber describes the structure of a real project of a "society of the future", which Thomas More and other authors of utopias only fantasized about.
This book is a bold attempt to return anthropology and ethnography to its original purpose: the search for an alternative view of the development of society and culture. Graeber "decolonizes the Enlightenment", proving that the origins of the ideas of equality, freedom and justice should be sought outside of "Western civilization". He unequivocally states that those very fictional egalitarian "pirate kingdoms" like Libertalia actually existed in one way or another. Using the example of the Betsimissary Confederation, Graeber describes the structure of a real project of a "society of the future", which Thomas More and other authors of utopias only fantasized about.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author