VIDEO: Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey (Free Online Course)

Karl Marx

by Dan Colman, Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/2011/11/reading_marxs_icapitali_with_david_harvey_free_course.html

David Harvey, an important social theorist and geographer, has got the right idea. Take what you know. Teach it in the classroom. Capture it on video. Then distribute it to the world. Keep it simple, but just do it.

Harvey is now making available 26 hours of lectures, during which he gives a close reading of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital (1867).

This work, often considered to be Marx’s masterpiece, is where he elaborated a critique of capitalism and laid the groundwork for an ideology that took the 20th century by storm.

Harvey is no stranger to this text. He has taught this class for over 40 years now, both in universities (Johns Hopkins and CUNY) and in the community as well.

The first lecture, preceded by an introductory interview lasting roughly six minutes, appears above.

The rest of the lectures can be accessed via Harvey’s web site, YouTube, and iTunes. Also, we have placed the course in our collection of Free Online Courses, which keeps on growing. Find it under the Economics section.

UPDATE:  David Harvey is looking for volunteers to translate his lectures into 36 languages. If you want to help you, you can get started here.