On Kings

On Kings
AuthorDavid Graeber, Marshall Sahlins
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
Publication date
2017
Publication placeUnited States of America
ISBN978-0-9861325-0-6

On Kings is a collaborative work by anthropologists David Graeber and Marshall Sahlins that addresses the question of kingship.

Published in 2017, it is Graeber's eighth book. The work is structured as a collection of essays written by the two anthropologists, presented in the form of a dialogue.

Contents

The book opens with a reflection on kingship, noting that it might be the most common political system in human history and is fundamentally religious in nature.[1] It is also described as a political system that is very difficult to abolish, with most modern revolutions merely transferring the attributes of monarchy into the framework of popular sovereignty.[1]

In the book, Graeber, influenced by Sahlins, his mentor, argues that:[2]

humans have traditionally, and even into modern times, understood their existence within political systems involving and intertwined with "metahuman persons"—that is, spirits, gods, demons, superheroes, goblins, elves, and a range of entities that behave more or less like people but possess powers distinct from those of ordinary humans, sometimes far exceeding them.

The anthropologist also takes a stand on controversial points in political anthropology;[3] he argues that kingship draws inspiration from the celestial world, rather than the other way around, following Hocart.[3] In this debate, he asserts that 'what is generally considered the divinization of human leaders is, from a historical perspective, better described as the humanization of the god'.[3]

Graeber and Sahlins propose the hypothesis that the use of ancestors and divine agents to legitimize and consolidate power is a universal tendency among rulers.[4] They refer to this tendency as "galactic mimesis".[4]

Legacy

The work is described as "important and provocative" by Christopher John Smith.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Kipfer, Sara; Hutton, Jeremy M.; Hunziker-Rodewald, Regine; Naumann, Thomas; Klein, Johannes, eds. (2021). The Book of Samuel and its response to monarchy. Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament (BWANT) (1. Auflage ed.). Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag. p. 64. ISBN 978-3-17-037041-8.
  2. ^ Arnal, William (2024-09-01). "The state, the gods and the imagination; or, David Graeber as a theorist of religion". Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses. 53 (3): 336–349. doi:10.1177/00084298231201980. ISSN 0008-4298.
  3. ^ a b c "Divine Kingship in the Firm: Reciprocity, Organizational Culture, and Founder Cults – Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi". Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  4. ^ a b Lorenzen, Magnus Arvid Boes (2024-05-28). "Divine & Conquer: Ancestors, Gods, and the Right to Rule". Chronolog. 2 (2): 47–59. ISSN 2794-5197.
  5. ^ Smith, Christopher John (2020-11-01). "The gift of sovereignty : kings from Mauss to Sahlins and Graeber". Politica Antica. doi:10.4475/940. ISSN 2281-1400. Archived from the original on 2024-12-09. Retrieved 2024-12-09.