Episode 32: Microfinance

## AnthroAlert## Episode 32: MicrofinanceOriginally aired 2 February 2018 on bullsradio.orgGuest Olubukola (Bukky) Olayiwola discusses his research on microseldning and mobile finance systems in Nigeria.I have bachelor and master degrees in Anthropology, University of Ibadan (Nigeria). I am a second year PhD student in Applied Anthropology and a Fellow (Wadsworth International Fellowship) of Wenner-Gren Foundation. My research interests are in economic anthropology; the anthropology of policy; the anthropology of development organization; and the anthropology of ethnicity, women, and gender; microcredit; informal economy; West Africa. I have been involving in ethnographic research and survey across rural and urban centers of Nigeria since 2009. I have experience in monitoring and evaluation of MDGs projects, Social Impact Assessment and I have engaged in collaborative projects with organizations such as HarvestPlus (Researcher), Harvard and Yale Okrika Survey-Lagos Trader Project (Unaffiliated Investigator), Action-Aid Nigeria (Consultant/State Enumerator and Program Facilitator), Development Policy Center, Ibadan (Program Assistant), and Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (Unaffiliated Investigator).Current ResearchMy dissertation focuses on Women and the Economic Violence of Credit Mobilization in Southwest Nigeria. I critique Grameen Bank model as an empowerment scheme gears towards making provision of microcredit facilities for women in rural and urban centers in Nigeria. SynopsisMicrocredit schemes fashioned after the Grameen Bank Model are widely acclaimed for their potential for empowering the poor through access to credit based on social collateral. The Grameen Bank is a financial empowerment scheme introduced in Tangail district, Bangladesh by Muhammad Yunus as an initiative of providing credit for poor women with social collateral. However, in contrast to the supposed positive outcomes, grassroots women in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria refer to microcredit loans as “owo komulelanta,” a term which literally translates as “resting the breast on a lantern,” a plain critique of the stringent conditions of loan repayment. Such a notion invokes images of violence as implicated in the process of loan repayment. In my ongoing dissertation research, I argue that neoliberalizing microcredit rather than creating empowerment for women through access to credit further agonizes their situation and makes them more vulnerable. It is considered as a universalizing solution to problems of poverty and thereby creates an image of “one-size fits all.” Therefore, I argue for a context-specific explanation of the failure of microlending as well as context-specific solution through the application of anthropological knowledge.## Podcast link## Video link## Album art photo credit:Oliver Thompsonhttps://flic.kr/p/9zVPYBCC License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/## Intro music credit:Awel by stefsaxhttp://ccmixter.org/files/stefsax/7785http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkabahttp://ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/There's A Better WAY ! by Loveshadowhttp://ccmixter.org/files/Loveshadow/34402https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"Jungle Tracking" by pingnewshttp://ccmixter.org/files/pingnews/13481https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.