Microcredit Schemes of Tension : Women and the Economic Violence of Credit Mobilization in Ibadan, Nigeria
Infrastructure, Morality, Food and Clothing, and New Developments in Latin America
ISBN: 978-1-80117-435-0, eISBN: 978-1-80117-434-3
Publication date: 13 December 2021
Abstract
Microcredit schemes fashioned after the Grameen Bank model are widely acclaimed for their potential for empowering the poor through access to credit based on social collateral. However, women market vendors in Ibadan refer to microcredit loans as owo komulelanta, a term which translates as “resting the breasts on a hot kerosene lantern,” a plain critique of the stringent conditions of loan repayment. This paper presents the lived experience of borrowers based upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2019. It reflects on the Nigerian state's neoliberal policies of microfinance and the experience of women borrowers. The paper argues that social–emotional vulnerability of women borrowers is exacerbated by the acceptance of a loan due to the rigid system of repayment and harassment from providers.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This research was made possible through a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Gr.WIF-248). The research would not have been possible without the work of my dissertation committee. I am indebted to my academic parents/mentors (Kevin Yelvington, Barbara Cruz, and Jide Ololajulo) for their invaluable time created in spite of their busy schedules to review the manuscript. I express gratitude to the research participants who shared their time and stories with me as well as the anonymous reviewers. Any errors are my own.
Citation
Olayiwola, O. (2021), "
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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