Congratulations to Caroline Shenaz Hossein whose book, The Banker Ladies: Vanguards of Solidarity Economics and Community-Based Banks (University of Toronto Press) has been awarded an Independent Publisher Book Award (bronze) in Women's Issues.
Conducted annually since 1996, the Independent Publisher Book Awards have celebrated the best independently published titles from around the globe with a mission to shine a spotlight on the thousands of outstanding independent, university, and self-published books that hit the shelves each year.
From the University of Toronto Press website:
This book sheds light on the activism of the Black women who act as Banker Ladies in their communities, educating readers about their contributions to economic cooperation.
All over the world, Black and racialized women engage in the solidarity economy through what is known as mutual aid financing. Formally referred to as rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), these institutions are purposefully informal to support the women’s livelihoods and social needs and act to reject tiered forms of neoliberal development. The Banker Ladies – a term coined by women in the Black diaspora – are individuals that voluntarily organize ROSCAs for self-sufficiency and are intentional in their politicized economic cooperation to counter business exclusion.
Caroline Shenaz Hossein reveals how Black women redefine the banking cooperative sector to be inclusive of informal institutions that are democratic and focused on group consensus, and which build an activist form of economic cooperation that is intent on making social profitability the norm. The book examines the ways in which diasporic Black women who organize mutual aid receive little to no attention.
Unapologetically biased towards a group of women who have been purposely sidelined and put down for what they do, The Banker Ladies highlights how, in order to educate oneself about their contributions to politics and economics, it is imperative to listen to the voices of hundreds of Black women in charge of financial services for their communities.