Short Abstract

Across Africa and its diasporas, savings groups, mutual associations, cooperatives, family firms, franchises, banks and diaspora networks organize support and provision. We welcome work on how these forms shape ownership, obligation, risk, access and exclusion.

Long Abstract

Social and economic life in Africa and its diasporas runs through institutions that differ in ownership, obligation and scale. Burial societies, savings groups, mutual aid networks, cooperatives, family firms, franchises, banks and insurers all organize support, finance or provision. Remittances, hometown associations and diaspora investment connect households, institutions and places across borders. This panel asks how these forms relate, what each can carry, and who is left outside.

Older and newer forms coexist, combine, formalize or displace one another, often within the same household, sector or locality. We invite work on mutual associations and cooperatives; community-based health insurance; family firms, franchises and entrepreneurs; banks and diaspora investment; and providers of health, education, transport and housing. Historical, ethnographic, survey and comparative approaches are welcome across regions and periods.

Papers should show how institutional form shapes obligation, access, ownership, risk and distribution. Who owns and finances these institutions? Who decides within a household? Who carries risk when provision fails? How do gender, wealth and political power shape control? The same arrangement looks different to a member, an owner and a regulator. Contributors should state their evidence and its limits.

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