Rehabilitating the Hoard

The Social Dynamics of Unbanking in Africa and Beyond

Bibliographic Data

ID2102989
AuthorsG Peebles (0000-0002-5427-5902, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume84
Issue4
Pages595-613
Publication date2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972014000485
OpenAlexW2036211923
LanguageEN
Citations received35
References cited41

If a thriving capitalist economy relies on the innumerable small deposits of savings that local people place in banks, then 'unbanking' represents a threat to just such an economy. And yet, across the globe, billions remain outside the formal banking sector, thereby reducing the ability of formal banks to set these savings in motion. This unbanking has been the subject of many reports and studies by economists, corporations and non-profit organizations, but unbanking never seems to diminish. Indeed, by all accounts, it continues to thrive. In order to offer an alternative explanation for this phenomenon, the author revives an important, age-old distinction between hoarding and saving, while also providing an anthropological survey of alternative modes of saving in Africa. In so doing, the author argues that the critics of unbanking may be ignoring the ways in which banking and unbanking are tied up with subject formation

Economics · Economy · Epistemology · Globe · Hoard · Hoarding (animal behavior · Market economy · Neoclassical economics · Order (exchange · Phenomenon · Political economy · Profit (economics · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Thriving · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Finance · History · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Psychology · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub