The first event of iRISE and its Institute of Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods was the Africana Feminist Economics Symposium, which brought together Black feminist scholars and community leaders to discuss cooperative banks and specifically the ROSCA system. ROSCA is an English acronym for Rotating Savings and Credit Association, a group of people, usually women, working together to save and to pool money, which in turn goes to members on a democratic rotating basis. There are many names for ROSCAs around the world; in the African diaspora these groups are called Susus, Chamas, Moziki, Partner, Hagbad and Boxhand, to name a few.
The event was organized by Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein, Associate Professor in the Department of Global Development Studies, Canada Research Chair of Africana Development and Feminist Political Economy and Interim Director of iRISE’s Institute for Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods during the 2022-23 academic year. Hossein stated that “hosting the Africana Feminist Economics Symposium is at the very origins of the iRISE institute and its meaning of inclusive economies and sustainable livelihoods is to be one that is situated in Black feminist ideas of reciprocity, social profitability, and financial dividends. This is where we should be moving towards when we want to understand business in society.”
The symposium featured presentations from some leading experts in political economy and cooperatives created by women of African descent. Senior Lecturer Talia Esnard of the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine campus Trinidad, talked about the Susus as subversive acts built on strategic trust and friendship. Her research, which features the stories of women in Susus, has shown that they value their identity as part of a collective. And Susu members experience solidarity, an increase of social capital, and the reflection and development of values like patience, tolerance and discipline which they feel are lost in extreme variants of capitalism, with its focus on the self rather than community.
Introducing the Chamas in Kenya and in Canada was PhD student in political science, Agnes Mochama, who defined Chamas as groups with common purpose, which emphasize social ties, flexibility and self-organizing. Her research draws on pre-colonial ideas of Harambee, which means “pulling together,” referring to community effort or pooling resources, including labour for tilling, digging, and harvesting. Fifty per cent of Kenyans rely on Chamas, while only 32% rely on banks. Mochama herself maintained her involvement with Chamas when she came to Canada as an immigrant and told the audience that she is “living in Chama.”
Dr. Sherice Nelson of Southern University in Louisiana, an historically black college/ university (HBCU), presented her research findings on the Jar system used by African American women employed in the beauty industry in San Francisco and in Augusta, Georgia in the 1980s, in which women would collectively save money in a mason jar. The Jar system shared many characteristics of Susus and Chamas. Similarly, these women were not recognized by commercial banks as having ‘real businesses’ because of the informal aspect of the work they were doing. Banks would not give the women loans, and would be suspicious of large amounts of cash being deposited. Women could be accused of money laundering or tax evasion. Dr. Nelson documented “Miss Jackie”, who purchased a safe to safeguard the funds raised in the Jar system so they could purchase a building. Out of fear and banking exclusion, the women started this Jar system to help each other because they were distrustful that mainstream banks and government agencies would treat them fairly.
Juliet Kego Ume-Onyido, a member of The Banker Ladies Council (a GTA-based group of women supporting each other and promoting ROSCAs in Canada) spoke about the potential for ROSCAs to help women to build their credit rating in order to qualify for loans and mortgages, so they could have the option to choose those banking tools when it benefits them. She also gave an example of how one group supported a woman with a small business by pooling resources to place a large order. Ume-Onyido also shared stories of Persian women living in the Richmond Hill suburb where she lives, who shared with her their own system of Sandooq. She advocated that cross-cultural learning between immigrant women will increase the power of ROSCAs in Canada.
Andria Barrett, also a member of The Banker Ladies Council, said that increasing the power of ROSCAs also requires the establishment of a ROSCA federation, which would offer legitimacy to ROSCAs. It would also educate the Canadian public and the financial economy on ROSCAs and their value as part of Canada’s co-operative and economic development sectors.
Just as the Jar system is underground, Professor Hossein, in her own lecture that day, acknowledged that ROSCAs in the West and in Canada are often characterized as something illegal, and individual cooperators are being harmed and their funds confiscated based on the suspicion of authorities that Black women are engaged in drug trafficking or funding of terrorist groups. Hossein explained, “The Ontario Civil Remedies Act is a law that allows authorities to have great power over the Banker Ladies across the city to take funds they feel are unlawfully acquired…as a society, we don’t value their labour when they choose self-help groups and cooperative banks because we want to rescue Black women with subsidies.”
The event was full of ideas, debate and strategies on a global solidarity economy and for building a sustainable financial economic system. Hossein says, “I am standing by watching and assisting Canadian women known as the Banker Ladies who are leading the way in how we may change the architecture of giving and development in our world.”