Reading Group in the Museum of Care

Andrew Johnson’s essay ‘Bureaucrats with guns: Or, how we can abolish the police if we just stop believing in them‘ is available in Vol. 27 No. 3 (2021): Towards a dialogical anthropology: Tribute to David Graeber of Anthropological Notebooks

While inspired by David Graeber’s essay “On the Phenomenology of Giant Puppets: Broken Windows, Imaginary Jars of Urine, and the Cosmological Role of Police in American Culture”, Andrew Johnson’s essay traverses Graeber’s entire oeuvre. There are stylistic allusions, jokes, criticism of both Graeber and contemporary social movements, biting commentary, and, at times, unfiltered rage. In many respects, while this is an essay about Graeber, it is every bit an essay about the author’s own thoughts and worldview.

Moderated by Steve Bachelor

The event took place on 25 May 2023