An Introduction

Abstract

This collection is about mutual aid and thoughtful and deliberate forms of economic cooperation. This expertise in cooperative-building is not a new thing, and people of the Global South have a long legacy of self-help and cooperation from within. The money cooperatives known as rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) are living proof that diverse solidarity economies do exist. People organizing ROSCAs draw on their own lived experience to come together to remake business that is equitable and mindful of the systemic biases that exist in a society. Case studies around the world show that ROSCAs may vary in structure and operation, but they have common characteristics that make them unique: decidedly informal, democratic, and locally owned cooperatives focused on strengthening solidarity and community economies. Community economies is embedded in the commoning experience of people everywhere and local knowledges point to this experience. There is a shared understanding that business and social exclusion exists, and that ROSCAs and other forms of economic cooperation rooted in self-help, activism, and the collective are able to push for ethical community-focused businesses.