Anarchist professor drops appeal, will leave Yale

New York Newsday ^ | 12/8/05 | Matt Apuzo

[LdSentinal]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A professor and outspoken anarchist has agreed to leave Yale University this spring, ending an appeal over whether his termination was politically motivated.

David Graeber, one of the world's leading social anthropologists, said he will teach two classes next semester, then take a yearlong paid sabbatical after which he will not return.

"Normally, you get a sabbatical on the condition that you come back and teach the following year," Graeber said. "I'm getting the sabbatical on the condition that I don't come back and teach."

Yale spokesman Tom Conroy would not discuss the matter Wednesday but has said the university was trying to reach an informal arrangement outside the grievance process.

[Arm_Bears]

That brings the count to at least two--It's a start.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

IF they can get rid of this guy, why can't the U of Colorado get rid of the fake indian.

[Cicero]

From his website at the Yale department of Anthropology. It looks as if he's managed to publish one book, and since then has been diverted by activist projects rather than scholarly work. His dissertation remains unpublished, and he is still an assistant professor, some nine years after getting his PhD. Not what I would call a "distinguished" record.

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David Graeber

David Graeber (Ph.D., Chicago 1996) Assistant Professor of Anthropology, I conducted my doctoral research in Madagascar, in a rural community divided between descendants of an andriana ("noble") clan and descendants of their former slaves; the resulting dissertation (The Disastrous Ordeal of 1987: Memory and Violence in Rural Madagascar) is, among other things, about magic, history, and the political role of narratives. Hopefully it will soon be a book, but not of the same name. I've also written on famadihana - the famous Malagasy rituals of rewrapping the dead - on love magic and its relation to colonial labor policy, on the "painful memories" of slaves, and other Madagascar-related topics. At the same time I've pursued a variety of theoretical projects, ranging from work on the nature of manners (drawing on the anthropological literature on joking and avoidance relations) to work on value theory, which culminated in a book called Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value published in 1991. For the last three years I've been working on a new project on direct action and the contemporary global resurgence of anarchism, which has already led to articles in New Left Review and various books and European publications, and to several book projects. The first of these, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, is due out from the Prickly Paradigm Pamphlet series this spring; others (Reinventing Revolution and Direct Action: An Ethnography) are still in process of preparation. Mailing address: Department of Anthropology Yale University P. O. Box 208277 New Haven, CT 06520-8277 Office address: Room 9, 158 Whitney Avenue tel: (203) 432-3687 fax: (203) 432-3669 email: david.graeber@yale.edu

[AmishDude]

one of the world's leading social anthropologists

Damning with faint praise.

[Brilliant]

"Graeber, who has taught at Yale since 1998, is a prolific writer and his seminal work on value theory is taught worldwide."



I'm sensing that the "anarchist" is actually a Marxist. Of course, they've got dozens of Marxists at Yale, I'm guessing. They don't give their reasons. Maybe they discovered he's a plagiarist or something.

[AmishDude]

He doesn't have tenure. The ivy's have been hiring a lot of adjunct professors and lecturers over the years in the humanities.

[Cicero]

I especially like that bit about his next "book.":

The first of these, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, is due out from the Prickly Paradigm Pamphlet series this spring.

[Continental Soldier]

Bye-bye.

[Brilliant]

"I did a lot to build up the reputation of that department," he said.

Maybe that's why they want him out.

[Brilliant]

he carries an Industrial Workers of the World union card in his wallet

I wonder how he squares that with anarchy?

[Dead Corpse]

He's not an "anarchist". He sounds like a socialist.

Anarchy, as I've been defining it, is "self government". Not necessarily the absence of society, just an absence of putting some bureacrat in control. "Laws" are what everyone agrees on and every man is for himself with equal respect for every others individuals Right to the same.

Not this "no laws, no morals, no consequences" BS some of these people advocate. Scratch one of them too deep and you see commie Red.

[DustyMoment]

Normally, you get a sabbatical on the condition that you come back and teach the following year

Translation: Yale is giving him a year to get hired at UC Berserkly.

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

How does one get a PhD without submitting and defending one's dissertation?

[Wilhelm Tell]

I'm sensing that the "anarchist" is actually a Marxist.

It seems like ever since the Seattle riots a few years ago, the old-style Marxists and Maoists have repackaged themselves as "anarchists."

[Cicero]

I presume he did submit & defend his dissertation. But evidently he then failed to turn it into a book, which is normally the next step. He did manage to publish another book instead, evidently, but since then he seems to be publishing political screeds and pamphlets.

Normally in a tenure review the minimum requirement at Yale would be a couple of good books or one VERY good book and evidence of continued scholarly productivity. If it's not "peer-reviewed" by fellow academics for a reputable press or journal, it doesn't count.

[Cicero]

Over the past couple of centuries "anarchist" has had a number of meanings. Typical anarchists in the late nineteenth century were leftists, and were often referred to as "bomb throwers," since that was a favorite method of protesting against the reactionary establishment.

[McGavin999]

Gee, you think the universities are starting to wise up to the fact that they are no longer institutions of higher learning but have merely become instutions for the criminally insane?

I don't know what I'd do if I had a college age kid these days, I sure wouldn't want to waste my hard earned money sending them to an indoctrination camp.

[Brilliant]

Actually, now that I think about it, he was probably booted out because he wasn't Marxist enough. They probably thought they were getting a Marxist when they hired him.