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This article examines Stokvels (South Africa), Susu (Ghana), and Mukando (Zimbabwe) as forms of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) that have long provided financial resilience in African communities. Far more than informal savings clubs, these associations embody the philosophy of Ubuntu, emphasizing reciprocity, solidarity, and collective vitality. Historically rooted in women’s cooperatives, they have supported farming, education, health care, social obligations, and small-scale entrepreneurship, while also strengthening collective bargaining power and food security. Their adaptability is evident in the wide variety of stokvels in South Africa and in the integration of susu collectors with formal banking in Ghana, bridging informal and formal economies. By pooling risks and resources, these groups function as community safety nets that empower women, build resilience, and sustain livelihoods. As they expand and interact with financial institutions, questions arise about how to preserve their community-driven ethos while scaling their transformative potential. +
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Ta Madok Maka (The Indigenous Karen’s Concept and Praxis of Reciprocity)—translated as “I help you, you help me”—is a core philosophical and moral principle of the Indigenous Karen (K’nyaw) people, embodying reciprocity, mutual respect, and interconnected wellbeing among humans, nature, and the spirit world. Rooted in ancestral belief systems, customary institutions, and livelihood practices, Ta Madok Maka underpins Karen cultural life through acts of solidarity, empathy, and collective care. It extends beyond human-to-human relationships to encompass balanced and harmonious coexistence with sacred lands, waters, forests, wildlife, and guardian spirits, reinforced by complementary values such as Ta Kwamoo Kwakheh Hlotha (“caring for each other for collective survival and wellbeing”). This principle is expressed in rotational farming, cultural ceremonies like Lar Ku Ki Sue, and the protection of spiritual territories such as Day Por Htu (umbilical cord forests) and Htee Meh K’lar (water mirrors), which integrate ecological stewardship with spiritual obligations. +
Etimológicamente, tequio proviene del náhuatl tequitl —“trabajo”, “tarea” o “tributo”—, un término usado en la Nueva España colonial para referirse al tributo de trabajo personal que debían las comunidades indígenas, y que hoy se resignifica como una contribución comunitaria orientada al bien común. El tequio es un sistema indígena de trabajo colectivo en México —especialmente en Oaxaca— mediante el cual los miembros de una comunidad aportan trabajo no remunerado para construir, mantener o reparar infraestructura y servicios que benefician a todas y todos (caminos, sistemas de agua, escuelas, plazas, radios comunitarias, fiestas, etc.). Por lo general es obligatorio para las personas adultas de la comunidad, se organiza a través de asambleas y autoridades, y se considera tanto un honor como un deber cívico/comunal, más que “voluntariado” o una relación salarial. +
Etymologically, tequio comes from the Nahuatl tequitl—“work,” “task,” or “tribute”—a term used in colonial New Spain for the personal labour tax owed by Indigenous communities, which re-signifies today as a communal contribution oriented to the common good. Tequio is an Indigenous system of collective work in Mexico—especially in Oaxaca—through which members of a community contribute unpaid labour to build, maintain, or repair infrastructure and services that benefit everyone (paths, water systems, schools, plazas, community radios, fiestas, etc.). It is usually obligatory for adult community members, is organized through assemblies and authorities, and is considered both an honour and a civic/communal duty rather than “volunteer work” or a wage relation. +
Timuay refers to a traditional governance system of the Teduray and Lambangian peoples in Mindanao, Philippines, highlighting its communal, collective, and pluralist foundations. Rooted in the term timu—to gather—the Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG) system embodies Indigenous philosophies of relationality, equality, and peace through collective leadership, community participation, and stewardship of nature. The article traces its historical resilience against colonial and state suppression, its clandestine survival during conflicts, and its revival through Indigenous movements and legal recognition under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). Confronting the erosion of communal values under capitalism, TJG emerges as both a critique of individualist, profit-oriented systems and a living alternative grounded in communal ownership, ecological guardianship, and pluralism. By restoring and strengthening Timuay practices, the article argues, Indigenous communities not only reclaim self-determination but also offer a vital vision of justice and sustainability for contemporary society. +
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This entry reclaims Ubuntu/Botho as a revolutionary Afrikan philosophy rooted in justice, liberation, and epistemic sovereignty. While widely invoked in global ethics and post-apartheid discourse, Ubuntu/Botho has been misappropriated and depoliticized through colonial mistranslations and liberal interpretations such as “I am because you are.” Drawing on Afrikan cosmologies—Hunhu, Ukama, Seriti, and Ma’at—the entry situates Ubuntu/Botho within a broader constellation of relational, spiritual, and ecological worldviews emphasizing cosmic balance and communal flourishing. It exposes how Western and white South African scholars have sanitized Ubuntu into a discourse of reconciliation and corporate branding, perpetuating epistemic injustice. Engaging with Black Consciousness, Liberation Theology, and Afrikan feminist and womanist interventions, it argues that Ubuntu/Botho is not a passive communitarian ethic but an insurgent, justice-oriented ontology of being. The paper concludes that reclaiming linguistic and philosophical integrity is essential for restoring Ubuntu/Botho as a decolonial framework for Afrikan futures. +
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Ivan Illich’s concept of vernacular values challenges the economic logic of scarcity by emphasizing autonomous, non-market activities that sustain livelihoods outside bureaucratic and commercial structures. As the formal economy expands, so does shadow work, fostering dependency and eroding self-sufficiency, a process Illich describes as a "war on subsistence." This erosion leads to "radical monopolies," where basic human activities—learning, healing, mobility, and housing—become institutionalized and commodified. Illich critiques modernity’s universalizing mission, arguing that the imposition of economic rationality, development paradigms, and standardized languages perpetuates colonial domination. Rather than seeking inclusion within economic systems, he advocates for reclaiming vernacular values as a means to resist commodification and rediscover autonomous ways of living. The case of the Acapatzingo community in Mexico City illustrates this reclaiming process through self-management, voluntary community work, and collective decision-making. Inspired by Zapatista principles, the community has built autonomous systems for housing, education, health, food production, and energy, reducing dependence on state and market institutions. Their struggle represents a radical rejection of imposed precarity and a reaffirmation of the right to inhabit and self-govern. Illich’s vision thus calls for a reimagining of subsistence beyond economic dependency, fostering conviviality, mutual aid, and the recovery of communal autonomy against the monopolization of everyday life. +
Despite writing an essay titled "Vernacular Values" (1980), Illich never wrote an essay specifically devoted to defining the concept. Rather, he employed it as a conceptual frame within which to situate and connect a series of closely related concerns: the war against subsistence, the taught mother tongue, economic sex, professional dominance. Illich’s role in the popularization and clarification of this concept is crucial, and its use appears across multiple texts of his authorship, such as “The Waning of the Vernacular” (1978), “Vernacular vs. Commodities” (1979), “Vernacular Values and Economics” (1980), “Vernacular Virtue” (1980), “Vernacular Gender” (1982), “Introduction to Vernacular Values” (1983), among others. Some of these texts were published, others remain unpublished, and many of them largely converged in two of his seminal books: Shadow Work (1981) and Gender (1982). In this essay, we limit ourselves to collecting excerpts and quotations from his works, seeking to share, in a faithful and clear manner, Illich’s own inquiry, in the form of a mosaic that brings us closer to his definition of the concept of “vernacular values.” +
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Las zonas de sacrificio son espacios en donde se localizan de manera concentrada diversos proyectos de acumulación de capital urbanos, industriales y agroindustriales, los cuales producen niveles extremos de intoxicación de las fuentes de vida de los territorios implicados. La lógica del sacrificio se establece en la medida en que los Estados y las empresas van generando una relación entre ofrenda y desarrollo económico, de forma que la destrucción de ciertos lugares parece justificada a razón de un bien mayor. Estos lugares se producen de manera histórica a través de transformaciones largas y profundas, generando las condiciones para su sacrificio y naturalizando la devastación. La noción zonas de sacrificio ha sido implementada y alimentada no sólo desde la academia, sino desde los espacios políticos de las luchas que denuncian las injusticias ambientales y las violencias estructurales que se producen debido al designio sacrificial de sus territorios, por lo que se ha vuelto un concepto con un gran potencial heurístico. +