Buch, Englisch, Band 180, 354 Seiten, Kartoniert, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 543 g
Reihe: Edition Politik
Chronic Indebtedness as Class Oppression in Modern India
Buch, Englisch, Band 180, 354 Seiten, Kartoniert, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 543 g
Reihe: Edition Politik
ISBN: 978-3-8376-8064-5
Verlag: transcript
1. Why did you choose this topic?
Financial inclusion is the most important contemporary development strategy to counter global poverty. A broad coalition of governments, international organisations, NGOs, and philanthropists supports the expansion of credit amongst low-income households. Yet, there is profound evidence that microfinance schemes do not deliver on their promises. My book seeks to deepen such critical analyses by broadening our understanding of the history and intricate mechanisms of subaltern indebtedness.
2. What new perspectives does your book offer?
My research extends the literature in two significant ways. First, it embeds the rise of microfinance into a broader history of European colonialism and capitalist development, tracing the continuities and shifts in governing access to credit for subaltern classes. Second, it engages with the neglected fact that many microfinance borrowers are wage labourers, using credit as a means of subsistence. The book explores the nexus between indebtedness, precarious labour and social reproduction.
3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?
Currently, about 44 per cent of the world population live in relative poverty, and many of these rely on credit to make ends meet. In the book, I use the chronic indebtedness of subaltern classes in India as a prism through which one can understand the multiple crises we are witnessing as connected: rampant poverty and staggering inequality, gender and caste discrimination, environmental degradation and the planetary crisis. Such analyses require innovative and transdisciplinary approaches.
4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!
I would like to debate my findings with either a staunch advocate of financial inclusion, such as Ajay Banga, the current World Bank president, or with a progressive movement leader in India, like Brinda Karat, the former general secretary of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). While the former debate would be a controversy on the promises and failures of microfinance, the latter could engage with strategic questions on how to counter the violence of financial inclusion.
5. Your book summary in one sentence:
A historically grounded account of the rise of modern microfinance in India, revealing how it perpetuates socio-economic violence and inequalities.
