a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
kleinbl00  ·  2205 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What was the original format war?

Graeber, whose axe lives in the same toolshed, would point out that "taxation" was collective within the gift economy and certainly wouldn't have been limited to agriculture. The preponderance of slaves in Sumerian illustrations would suggest that the ingroup, which knew agriculture, expressed their cultural domination through assimilation on their terms.

No tax necessary. If your father's father was friends with my father's father I know you're good for the two cows you owe me and if not we've got a mechanism. If you're that tribe we just crushed on the other side of the river you'll be digging furrows for your porridge.