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Good debts, bad debts: microcredit and managing debt in rural south India

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posted on 2023-06-09, 21:01 authored by Grace CarswellGrace Carswell, Geert De NeveGeert De Neve, Subramanian Ponnarasu
This paper engages with debates around microcredit, once a development success story, but now much critiqued. Arguing that microcredit can only be understood within the wider context of debt, we draw on ethnographic material from two villages in Tamil Nadu, to examine how microcredit through self-help groups sits within a broader context of indebtedness among the rural labouring classes. We describe patterns and sources of borrowing among the poor, the ways in which debts are managed, negotiated and settled within households and the ways in which the management of debt is mediated by gender, caste, class and aspiration. The paper calls for a more nuanced understanding of debt: some debts are seen as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’. We explore the ways in which microcredit, channelled through self-help groups, is—against much contemporary criticism—perceived by women borrowers in our study villages as a source of ‘good debt’ and praised as an enabling factor in their everyday household management as well as in aspirations for mobility and development. We also argue that microcredit can have positive impacts by enabling social investments that enhance status and reduce dependency.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Agrarian Change

ISSN

1471-0358

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

1

Volume

21

Page range

122-142

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Notes

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Carswell, G, De Neve, G, Ponnarasu, S. Good debts, bad debts: Microcredit and managing debt in rural south India. J Agrar Change. 2021; 21: 122– 142., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12365 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-04-02

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2022-04-28

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-04-01

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