 | |
| Author | David Graeber, Marshall Sahlins |
|---|---|
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Publication date | 2017 |
| Publication place | United States of America |
| ISBN | 978-0-9861325-0-6 |
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.
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]
The work is described as "important and provocative" by Christopher John Smith. [5]
