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Drawing on the Lived Experience of African Canadians: Using Money Pools to Combat Social and Business Exclusion

In: The Black Social Economy in the Americas

Author

Listed:
  • Caroline Shenaz Hossein

    (York University)

  • Ginelle Skerritt

    (Warden Woods Community Centre)

Abstract

Trinidadian-Canadian Ginelle Skerritt was first introduced to susu as a savings device as a child in her homeland of Trinidad and Tobago. Her grandmother and mother were active in this African-Caribbean tradition as a way to pool money in Trinidad for business and livelihood needs. After migrating to Toronto in the 1960s, she watched her mother as a newcomer bring these collective banks to Canada and to find a supportive community. The family’s first home, vacations, and school fees were all made possible through susu. Susu provided her with the money to be the first person in her family to go to university. As a successful professional, Ginelle explores the ways in which susu has helped her, her family, and friends and why she participated in an adapted version of susu for more than a decade. This chapter explores the use of susus—also called money pools—by Caribbean people in the Canadian and the personal account of Ginelle Skerritt's family using the susu system shows that diverse financial services exist in major cities around the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Shenaz Hossein & Ginelle Skerritt, 2018. "Drawing on the Lived Experience of African Canadians: Using Money Pools to Combat Social and Business Exclusion," Perspectives from Social Economics, in: Caroline Shenaz Hossein (ed.), The Black Social Economy in the Americas, chapter 0, pages 41-58, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pfschp:978-1-137-60047-9_3
    DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-60047-9_3
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