David Graeber’s anthropology and historical materialism

This article examines the one thread in David Graeber’s thought that unifies his approach to anthropological knowledge, global history, and political action: his faith in the revolutionary power of the ‘constituent imagination’. The concept refers to the human capacity to collectively imagine alternative forms of social life and bring them into being. Graeber treated it both as a key driver of history and the most viable means to overcome capitalism by way of prefigurative politics. The article illustrates how Graeber turned structuralist anthropology into a myth-busting project aimed at awakening the constituent imagination. It then weighs the charges of idealism that have been levelled at his work, arguing that, to the degree his emphasis on the imagination came at the expense of recognizing class struggle, these charges have bite. Materialist analysis points up gaps in his account of both social change and political action. The article closes with a call to ground Graeber’s startling anthropology of possibilities in the tradition of historical materialism.