Africana Economics Symposium
On May 25th, 2023, at The University of Toronto - St George Campus, the first Africana Feminist Political Economic Symposium was held. DISE Collective members Dr. Michelle Stack, Dr. Caroline Hossein, Dr. Talia Esnard, and Dr. Sherice Nelson were joined by other scholars, community members, and Banker Ladies Council members.
Three of our members spoke about their own work on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs).
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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.”
iRISE. (2023, August 14) First Africana Feminist Economics Symposium at U of T describes, celebrates ‘alternative’ economic models used for centuries. University of Toronto - Scarborough. (Online).
Artwork Commission by PlayThink.com
Always so impressed by the work of interim director of the Institute of Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods @carolinehossein, who also served as the #BGSACon2023 keynote! Check out these sketches from the Africana Feminist Economics Symposium! pic.twitter.com/mfAjiBd3Lc
— UofT's Black Graduate Students’ Association (@BGSA_UofT) June 5, 2023
