Women's power and community resilience rotating savings and credit associations in Barbados and the Bahamas

Rotating Savings and Credit Associations or ROSCA are perceived by many in the Caribbean as derived from West Africa where they were a traditional (pre-colonial) means of accumulating and distributing resources. Brought to the Caribbean as part of the non-material culture of African people, ROSCAs were reestablished and adapted to the new social, economic, and political conditions. Also a challenge for Africanancestry peoples was the creation of new communities in a suppressive social environment where such communities were perceived as a threat to established colonial order. This paper is based on historic documents and two separate ethnographic studies involving more than a thousand direct interviews. Although the two studies in Barbados and the central Bahamas had different purposes, both documented that these associations emerged as historically and contemporarily important to women and a foundation of their communities. The findings argue that beginning during slavery ROSCAs were used by women to achieve power (agency) and in so doing provided resilience to their community. //ABSTRACT IN SPANISH: Las Rotativas de Ahorro y Crédito o ROSCA son percibidas por muchos en el Caribe como derivadas de África Occidental, donde eran un tradicional (pre-colonial) medio de acumulación y distribución de recursos. Transportadas al Caribe como parte de la cultura inmaterial de los pueblos africanos, las ROSCA se restablecieron y se adaptaron a las nuevas condiciones sociales, económicas y políticas. Un desafío para los pueblos de ascendencia africana fue la creación de nuevas comunidades en un entorno social represivo que en dichas comunidades se percibía como una amenaza al orden colonial establecido. Este trabajo se basa en documentos históricos y dos estudios etnográficos separados basados en más de mil entrevistas directas. Aunque los dos estudios realizados en Barbados y las Bahamas centrales tuvieron diferentes propósitos, ambos documentaron que estas asociaciones surgieron históricamente y fueron al mismo tiempo importantes para las mujeres y un pilar para sus comunidades. Los hallazgos sostienen que en tiempos de la esclavitud las ROSCA fueron utilizadas por las mujeres para aumentar su poder (agencia) y al hacerlo, proporcionaron resistencia a su comunidad.