A new network will support research excellence, mentorship and collaboration among Black scholars at U of T
For immigrants to Canada from Africa and the Caribbean who can’t get access to traditional loans, the answer to their financial needs is sometimes each other. A group of acquaintances will come together to create what is essentially an informal banking co-operative.
To academics, this practice is known as a “rotating savings and credit association” or ROSCA. The groups are little-known to most Canadians, but Caroline Shenaz Hossein, an associate professor of global development and political science at U of T Scarborough, has spoken with hundreds of members of these associations in Canada and the Caribbean for a book she’s writing. (In Jamaica, the associations are known as “pardnas” and, in Trinidad, “susus.”)
Source: University of Toronto Magazine
