David Graeber
"Academic exile" and London (2005–2020)
### "Academic exile" and London (2005–2020\)

On May 25, 2006, Graeber was invited to give the [Malinowski Memorial Lecture](/wiki/Malinowski_Memorial_Lecture "Malinowski Memorial Lecture") at the [London School of Economics](/wiki/London_School_of_Economics "London School of Economics"). Each year, the LSE anthropology department asks an anthropologist at a relatively early stage of their career to give the Malinowski Lecture, and only invites those considered to have made significant contributions to anthropological theory. Graeber's address was called "Beyond Power/Knowledge: an exploration of the relation of power, ignorance and stupidity". It was later edited into an essay, "Dead zones of the imagination: On violence, bureaucracy and interpretive labor". The same year, Graeber was asked to present the keynote address in the 100th anniversary Diamond Jubilee meetings of the [Association of Social Anthropologists](/wiki/Association_of_Social_Anthropologists "Association of Social Anthropologists"). In April 2011, he presented the anthropology department's annual Distinguished Lecture at Berkeley, and in May 2012 he delivered the second annual [Marilyn Strathern](/wiki/Marilyn_Strathern "Marilyn Strathern") Lecture at Cambridge (the first was delivered by Strathern).

After his dismissal from Yale, Graeber was unable to secure another position at an American university. He applied for more than twenty, but despite a strong track record and letters of recommendation from several prominent anthropologists, never made it past the first round. At the same time, a number of foreign universities approached him with offers. In an article on his "academic exile" from the United States, *[The Chronicle of Higher Education](/wiki/The_Chronicle_of_Higher_Education "The Chronicle of Higher Education")* interviewed several anthropology professors who agreed that Graeber's political activism could have played a role in his unsuccessful search, describing the field as "radical in the abstract" (in the words of [Laura Nader](/wiki/Laura_Nader "Laura Nader")) but intolerant of direct political action. Another factor suggested by the article was that Graeber had acquired a reputation as being personally difficult or "uncollegial", especially in light of allegations of poor conduct made by Yale during the dispute over his dismissal. Graeber himself interpreted his exclusion from American academia as a direct result of his dismissal from Yale, likening it to "[black\-balling](/wiki/Blackballing "Blackballing") in a social club", and arguing that the charge of "uncollegiality" glossed a variety of other personal qualities, from his political activism to his working\-class background, that marked him as a trouble\-maker within the academic hierarchy. Laura Nader, reflecting on Graeber's case amongst other examples of "academic silencing" in anthropology, speculated that the real reasons could have included Graeber's growing reputation as a public intellectual, and his tendency to "write in English" rather than jargon.

From 2008 to 2013, Graeber was a lecturer and a reader at [Goldsmiths College](/wiki/Goldsmiths%2C_University_of_London "Goldsmiths, University of London") of the [University of London](/wiki/University_of_London "University of London"). In 2013, he accepted a professorship at the London School of Economics.

Graeber was a founding member of the Institute for Experimental Arts in Greece. He gave a lecture with the title "How social and economic structure influences the Art World" in the International MultiMedia Poetry Festival organized by the Institute for Experimental Arts supported by the Department of Anthropology of the [London School of Economics and Political Science](/wiki/London_School_of_Economics "London School of Economics").


How did Graeber's working-class background affect his academic career?