As many of you may know understanding the influence that Karl Marx has had on anthropology is often essential in grasping many of the directions that anthropology has gone through the last hundred years. However, Marx can also be very intimidating by both reputation and sheer breadth of his work. Even after taking Pierre Lamarche's class on Marx a few years ago I've continued to struggle with how to best approach Marx. I thought that I'd share a few free resources that I've discovered through the years that have been a great help to me.
No.1 Hans Ehrbar's Annotations to Das Kapital and other works by Marx are free, scholarly, and comprehensive evaluations of the entire text of volume 1 of Capital (english and german). Ehrbar is an economist at the University of Utah who approaches the text from a heavily economic and structural perspective, but he still helps elucidate some of the general philosophical and social theories postulated in the text.
No. 2 Marxist.org is the most comprehensive collection of Marx's other writings, those of his interlocutors, and his most significant commentators. Of particular interest to anthropologists is The German Ideology, Engles' The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, and Althusser's Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,
No. 3 David Harvey's lectures on Capital are incredibly helpful. Harvey is one of the foremost commentators on Marx today and has been lecturing on Capital every year for about 40 years. His erudite explanations of Marx are straight to the point and avoid intimidating jargon. His companion volume to the lectures is also an incredibly useful resource. As part of his lecture series Classical Social Theorists for anthropology undergraduates at Cambridge, Alan Macfarlane has a great lecture on Marx from an anthropological perspective. You can view the view of it here.
No. 4 Harry Cleaver's Reading Capital Politically is considered one of the best contemporary introductions to Marx. Cleaver was a mentor of Pierre at the University of Texas, Austin and is able to make some of the most important parts of Marx's theories accessible, up-to-date, and relevant today. You can download the second edition for free here.
No. 5. Antonio Negri's Beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse deeply influenced Cleaver's analysis of Capital and Negri is currently viewed as one of most significant post-marxist commentators today. Along with Michael Hardt, Negri wrote Empire (its free) which is considered a manifesto for the 21st century. Pierre will be publishing a edited volume entitled Reading Negri this fall.
Hopefully this has been a help to you. Let me know if the guide is helpful or how you think we can best approach Marx and his influence on anthropological theory today.
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