Dr. Caroline Hossein

The Value of Membership Based Institutions

What do you imagine when you hear the word ‘institution’? Typically, we might imagine schools, police forces, and hospitals. These are what our newest guest Dr. Hossein calls ‘front-facing’ institutions, in her conversation with host Serena Bahadur. But there are many more invisible institutions that work behind the scenes, often securing the wellbeing of communities in times when the institutions we readily recognize systemically ignore us. How can membership-based institutions enrich us? Join us on this episode to explore what is not always seen, and yet always exists.

About

As an Associate Professor of Global Development, Dr. Hossein teaches the core development course at the PhD level to students in the University of Toronto’s Political Science programme. She is also a tier- 2 Canada Research Chair for Africana Development & Feminist Political Economy. She holds an Ontario Early Researcher Award, serves as a board member to the International Association of Feminist Economics, advisor to the Oxford University Press, editorial board member to the U.N. Task Force for the Social and Solidarity Economy, and Review for Black Political Economy. Dr. Hossein has authored, co-authored, and edited many books, including ‘Politicized Microfinance’, ‘The Black Social Economy’, and her newest, ‘Beyond Racial Capitalism: Cooperatives in the African Diaspora’. Dr. Hossein also works alongside the Banker Ladies, a community of Black and racialized women engaging with solidarity economies for self-sufficiency.