Money at the Margins

Mobile money, e-commerce, cash cards, retail credit cards, and more—as new monetary technologies become increasingly available, the global South has cautiously embraced these mediums as a potential solution to the issue of financial inclusion. How, if at all, do new forms of dematerialized money impact people’s everyday financial lives? In what way do technologies interact with financial repertoires and other socio-cultural institutions? How do these technologies of financial inclusion shape the global politics and geographies of difference and inequality? These questions are at the heart of Money at the Margins, a groundbreaking exploration of the uses and socio-cultural impact of new forms of money and financial services.

Mobile money, e-commerce, cash cards, retail credit cards, and more—as new monetary technologies become increasingly available, the global South has cautiously embraced these mediums as a potential solution to the issue of financial inclusion. How, if at all, do new forms of dematerialized money impact people’s everyday financial lives? In what way do technologies interact with financial repertoires and other socio-cultural institutions? How do these technologies of financial inclusion shape the global politics and geographies of difference and inequality? These questions are at the heart of Money at the Margins, a groundbreaking exploration of the uses and socio-cultural impact of new forms of money and financial services.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Money and Finance at the Margins
Smoki Musaraj and Ivan V. Small

PART I: IN/EXCLUSION

The Question of Inclusion
Ananya Roy

Chapter 1. A Living Fence: Financial Inclusion and Exclusion on the Haitian-Dominican Republic Border
Erin B. Taylor and Heather A. Horst

Chapter 2. Capital Mobilization among Somali Refugee Business Community in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenneth Omeje and John Mwangi Githigaro

Chapter 3. The Use of Mobile-Money Technology among Vulnerable Populations in Kenya: Opportunities and Challenges for Poverty Reduction
Ndunge Kiiti and Jane Wanza Mutinda

PART II: VALUE AND WEALTH

What do Value and Wealth Do? “Life” Goes On, Whatever “Life” Is.
Jane I. Guyer

Chapter 4. Dhikuti Economies: The Moral and Social Ecologies of Rotating Finance in the Kathmandu Valley
Sepideh Azarshahri Bajracharya

Chapter 5. Chiastic Currency Spheres: Postsocialist “Conversions” in Cuba’s Dual Economy
Mrinalini Tankha

Chapter 6. Carola and Saraswathi: Juggling Wealth in India and in Mexico
Magadalena Villarreal, Isabelle Guérin, and K. S. Santosh Kumar

PART III: TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL RELATIONS

Infrastructures of Digital Money
Jenna Burrell

Chapter 7. ‘Financial Inclusion Means Your Money Isn’t With You’: Conflicts over Social Grants and Financial Services in South Africa
Kevin P. Donovan

Chapter 8. Social Networks of Mobile Money in Kenya
Sibel Kusimba, Gabriel Kunyu, and Elizabeth Gross

Chapter 9. Accounting in the Margin: Financial Ecologies in between Big and Small Data
José Ossandón, Tomás Ariztía, Macarena Barros, and Camila Peralta

PART IV: DESIGN AND PRACTICE

Design and Practice
Joshua E. Blumenstock

Chapter 10. Understanding Social Relations and Payments among Rural Ethiopians
Woldmariam F. Mesfin

Chapter 11. Delivering Cash Grants to Indigenous Peoples through Cash Cards versus Over-the-Counter Modalities: The Case of the 4Ps Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Palawan, Philippines
Anatoly "Jing" Gusto and Emily Roque

Chapter 12. Effects of Mobile Banking on the Savings Practices of Low Income Users: The Indian Experience
Mani A. Nandhi

Chapter 13. Betting on Chance in Colombia: Using Empirical Work on Game Networks to Develop Practical Design Guidelines
Ana María Echeverry and Coppelia Herrán Cuartas

Afterword
Bill Maurer

Index