David Rolfe Graeber was an American anthropologist, anarchist activist, and author known for his influential work in economic anthropology. He wrote notable books such as Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011), Bullshit Jobs (2018), and The Dawn of Everything (2021), which was published posthumously. Graeber was a leading figure in the Occupy movement and coined the slogan "We are the 99%."

Born in New York to a working-class family, Graeber pursued his education at Purchase College and the University of Chicago. There, he conducted ethnographic research in Madagascar and obtained his doctorate in 1996. From 1998 to 2005, he served as an assistant professor at Yale University. However, the university's controversial decision not to renew his contract led to his academic exile in England, where he lectured at Goldsmiths' College and later became a professor at the London School of Economics.

Graeber's early scholarship focused on theories of value, social hierarchy, and political power. In the 2010s, he explored historical anthropology, particularly the relationship between debt and social institutions. His critiques of bureaucracy and managerialism in contemporary capitalism were published in works like The Utopia of Rules (2015) and Bullshit Jobs (2018). He introduced the concept of "bullshit jobs" in a 2013 essay, describing such jobs as "paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence."

Graeber's activism began with the global justice movement of the 1990s, and he participated in significant protests against the World Economic Forum and others. His commitment to activism extended to supporting the Rojava revolution in Syria, the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, and Extinction Rebellion.

David Graeber died unexpectedly in September 2020 while on vacation in Venice.