Repaying the Debts of the Dead

Kinship, Microfinance, and Mortuary Practice on the Paraguayan Frontier

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3649878
AutoresCaroline E Schuster (0000-0003-4229-2921, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume60
Fascículo2
Data de publicação2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Analysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0155-977X • E-ISSN: 1558-5727
EditoraBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/sa.2016.600205
OpenAlexW2484657512
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas33

Microcredit loans-most famously systems of group-based borrowing-are a key tool in global economic development frameworks. Building outward from microcredit programs in Paraguay, I explore the discontinuous materialities of both kin- and debt-based obligations, especially at their intersection. I argue that borrowers feel the life span of debts most acutely when mortuary practices anchored in kinship ties are bound up with the task of taking on the financial obligations of the dead. This analysis shows how the bonds between kinship, death, and indebtedness go beyond analogy, for collective debt is not 'like' a kinship relationship. Instead, microcredit social collateral provides a means for people to deal with the broader issues affecting the life span of individuals, objects, and commitments, as well as the human stakes involved with obligation

Embeddedness · Frontier · Obligation · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

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