Unpayable debt

Kumar, Santosh

doi:10.1111/amet.12912

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers (2019) describes how White slave-owning women participated in this violence by using Black women to care for and nurse their babies, respond to the sexual desires of their husbands and sons, and settle family debts. This violence continues to impact women around the globe, with contemporary evidence in the contexts of oil extraction (Appel 2019;Lerner and Meldrum, 1992;Lyall 2017;Lyall and Valdivia, 2019) and micro lending programs (Guérin and Kumar, 2020;Guérin and Venkatasubramanian, 2020) in the Global South and some lenders in China requiring women to take naked photos of themselves to use as collateral for borrowing money (Liu and Keane, 2021). Black women's refusals and rebellions against this violence are also well-documented (Eddins 2020;Johnson 2020;Jones-Rogers 2019;Hartman 1997Hartman , 2019Stetson 1982).…”

Section: Histories Of Debt: Violence and Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hannah Appel (2019) describes similar experiences in the context of debt and oil in Equatorial Guinea. In India, international philanthropic donations established lending programs to encourage low-income women's entrepreneurship; however, lending programs have given rise to new conditions for women to use sex for negotiating their debts (Guérin and Kumar, 2020;Guérin and Venkatasubramanian, 2020;Liu and Keane, 2021).…”

Section: Histories Of Debt: Violence and Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

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“There Is No Winning”

Friedline,

Morrow,

Atkinson

et al. 2023

Du Bois Rev.

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A range of health effects are associated with debt burdens from ubiquitous access to expensive credit. These health effects are concerning, especially for women who owe multiple types of higher-cost debt simultaneously and experience significantly higher stress associated with their debt burdens when compared to men. While debt burdens have been shown to contribute to poor mental and physical health, the potential gendered and racialized effects are poorly understood. We conducted interviews between January and April 2021 with twenty-nine racially marginalized women who reported owing debt, and used theoretical concepts of predatory inclusion and intersectionality to understand their experiences. Women held many types of debt, most commonly from student loans, medical bills, and credit cards. Women described debt as a violent, abusive, and inescapable relationship that exacted consequential tolls on their health. Despite these, women found ways to resist the violence of debt, to care for themselves and others, and to experience joy in their daily lives.

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Section: Histories Of Debt: Violence and Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Histories Of Debt: Violence and Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

“There Is No Winning”

Friedline,

Morrow,

Atkinson

et al. 2023

Du Bois Rev.

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“…Households and kinship serve as frontier space in which value is (re)produced and extracted (cf. Guérin and Kumar 2020).…”

Section: Infrastructuring the Social: From Wealth In People To Wealth...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Algorithmic Intimacy

Donovan

Park

2022

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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English Abstract: Kenya is a frontier market for ‘financial technology’, or FinTech. This industry – which merges mobile telephony and digital data with commercial lending – has grown spectacularly, with millions of Kenyans borrowing for household, emergency, and commercial expenses. This industry’s frenzied growth has been fuelled by not merely the pursuit of profit, but also a decidedly more developmental aspiration, namely ‘financial inclusion’. This article analyzes the curious merger of public good and private gain, the technological innovations, and sorts of knowledge work that undergird this field. It particularly examines the novel manner in which digital lenders capitalise on intimacy, converting practices of kinship and entrustment into frontiers of extraction. Personal and social data are translated into credit scores, extended family networks are mediated by financial services, and interpersonal relations subsidise risky lending decisions. In contrast to a view of capitalism as abstracting and alienating, this analysis foregrounds the sorts of personal relations, sentiments and obligations that are incorporated. Through fieldwork with borrowers, industry members and regulators, we show that digital lending relies on a conversion between different registers of wealth – in people, in things and in knowledge – and we track the ethical negotiations and anxious attachments that constitute this curious utopia.French Abstract: Le Kenya est un marché frontière pour la « technologie financière », ou FinTech. Cette industrie – qui fusionne la téléphonie mobile et les données numériques avec les prêts commerciaux – a connu une croissanc spectaculaire, des millions de Kenyans empruntant pour des dépenses domestiques, d’urgence et commerciales. La croissance frénétique de ce secteur a été alimentée non seulement par la recherche du profit, mais aussi par une aspiration résolument plus axée sur le développement, à savoir « l’inclusion financière ». Cet article analyse la curieuse fusion du bien public et du gain privé, les innovations technologiques et les types de travail de la connaissance qui sous-tendent ce domaine. Il examine en particulier la nouvelle manière dont les prêteurs numériques capitalisent sur l’intimité, convertissant les pratiques de parenté et de confiance en frontières d’extraction. Les données personnelles et sociales sont traduites en scores de crédit, les réseaux familiaux étendus sont médiatisés par les services financiers, et les relations interpersonnelles subventionnent les décisions de prêt risquées. Contrairement à une vision du capitalisme comme étant abstrait et aliénant, cette analyse met en avant les types de relations personnelles, les sentiments et les obligations qui sont incorporés. Grâce à un travail de terrain avec des emprunteurs, des membres de l’industrie et des régulateurs, nous montrons que le prêt numérique repose sur une conversion entre différents registres de richesse – en personnes, en choses et en connaissances – et nous suivons les négociations éthiques et les attachements anxieux qui constituent cette curieuse utopie.

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“…We also differ in our approach to recent work on savings groups in Africa, where they are presented as a direct challenge to prevailing development orthodoxies (O'Sullivan 2023;Dulhunty 2022;Ahimbisibwe and Ndidde 2022;Vokes and Mills 2015;Bannor et al 2020;Musinguzi 2016). Instead, our approach borrows from studies where financialization is inescapable and multisited, where different forms of borrowing are available, each with their particularities, histories and associations, and where individuals navigate their way through a range of options, while also engaging intellectually and critically with the changing financial landscape (Guérin and Kumar 2020;Bähre 2020;Krige 2019;Green 2019;James 2012James , 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2020; Musinguzi 2016). Instead, our approach borrows from studies where financialization is inescapable and multi-sited, where different forms of borrowing are available, each with their particularities, histories and associations, and where individuals navigate their way through a range of options, while also engaging intellectually and critically with the changing financial landscape (Guérin and Kumar 2020; Bähre 2020; Krige 2019; Green 2019; James 2012, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Money looks for money’: managing financialization in eastern Uganda

Jones,

Amongin

2023

Africa

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Savings groups are an important feature of life in rural Uganda and elsewhere. They have been celebrated as an ‘alternative’, community-based approach to economic development with a particular focus on empowering women. In this article we offer a more critical perspective, showing how a savings group in a village in eastern Uganda informs more general experiences of financialization. Joining the group was not really an ‘alternative’ to other forms of finance and was often a first step to securing loans from moneylenders, microfinance institutions and commercial banks. We show how poorer members of the group, typically women, ‘rented out’ their membership to wealthier villagers. Members also used the Friday meetings to socialize and to build political careers, and to reflect critically on experiences of financialization. ‘Money looks for money’, a phrase new to the area, interrogates these socialities and inequalities, as part of the seemingly inexorable pull of loans, interest and financialized debt.

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Unpayable debt

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

“There Is No Winning”

“There Is No Winning”

Algorithmic Intimacy

‘Money looks for money’: managing financialization in eastern Uganda

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