Money from Nothing: Indebtedness and Aspiration in South Africa
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.65 (827 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0804792674 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Property rights have been strengthened, but debtors lack the legal protection that is normal elsewhere. How these new economies will affect the future of young nations such as South Africa remains to be discovered. It will be a key source for all who concern themselves with the debt nexus, as lived." (Jane I. Cobbe CHOICE)"A new book by Deborah James puts South Africa's debt industry under a microscope James is an an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, so her book, Money From Nothing Indebtedness and Aspirations in South Africa, present a more nuanced perspective than we're accustomed to getting from bank-employed economists or trade unionists." (Ann Crotty
Money from Nothing explores the dynamics surrounding South Africa's national project of financial inclusiondubbed "banking the unbanked"which aimed to extend credit to black South Africans as a critical aspect of broad-based economic enfranchisement. Through rich and captivating accounts, Deborah James reveals the varied ways in which middle- and working-class South Africans' access to credit is intimately bound up with identity, status-making, and aspirations of upward mobility. Money from Nothing uniquely captures the lived experience of indebtedness for those many millions who attempt to improve their positions (or merely sustain existing livelihoods) in emerging economies.. She draws out the deeply precarious nature of both the aspirations and the economic relations of debt which sustain her subjects, revealing the shadowy side of indebtedness and its potential to produce new forms of oppression and disenfranchisement in place of older ones
Her previous books include Gaining Ground? "Rights" and "Property" in South African Land Reform (2007) and Songs of the Women Migrants (1999). She has written for the Mail and Guardian and has appeared in Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed, on the BBC. Deborah James is Pro