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The Handbook of Diverse Economies
Economic diversity abounds in a more-than-capitalist world, from worker-recuperated cooperatives and anti-mafia social enterprises to caring labour and the work of Earth Others, from fair trade and social procurement to community land trusts, free universities and Islamic finance. The Handbook of Diverse Economies presents research that inventories economic difference as a prelude to building ethical ways of living on our dangerously degraded planet. With contributing authors from twenty countries, it presents new thinking around subjectivity and methodology as strategies for making other worlds possible.
Cover illustration by Ailie Rutherford
Cover illustration by Ailie Rutherford
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
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Theorizing and illustrating diverse, more-than-capitalist economies, this broad-ranging Handbook presents ways in which it is possible to imagine and enact other ways of being. It gathers together empirical examples of diverse economic practices and experiments from across the world, framed by in-depth discussions of key theoretical concepts.
Organized into thematic sections, the Handbook moves from looking at diverse forms of enterprise, to labour, transactions, property, and finance as well as decentred subjectivity and diverse economies methodology. Chapters present a wide diversity of economic practices that make up contemporary economies, many of which are ignored or devalued by mainstream economic theory. Pushing the boundaries of economic thinking to include more than human labour and human/non-human interdependence, it highlights the challenges of enacting ethical economies in the face of dominant ways of thinking and being.
Economic geography, political economy and development studies scholars will greatly appreciate the empirical examples of diverse economic practices blended with theory throughout the Handbook. It will also benefit policymakers and practitioners working within diverse economies, or looking to create more ethical ways of living.
Organized into thematic sections, the Handbook moves from looking at diverse forms of enterprise, to labour, transactions, property, and finance as well as decentred subjectivity and diverse economies methodology. Chapters present a wide diversity of economic practices that make up contemporary economies, many of which are ignored or devalued by mainstream economic theory. Pushing the boundaries of economic thinking to include more than human labour and human/non-human interdependence, it highlights the challenges of enacting ethical economies in the face of dominant ways of thinking and being.
Economic geography, political economy and development studies scholars will greatly appreciate the empirical examples of diverse economic practices blended with theory throughout the Handbook. It will also benefit policymakers and practitioners working within diverse economies, or looking to create more ethical ways of living.
Critical Acclaim
‘This impressive collection of stimulating theorization and descriptions of a multitude of other-than-capitalist economic practices could not have been published at a more pertinent time. The Handbook is truly international in terms of authors’ affiliations and case studies’ geographies, covering the ''minority world'' (developed countries) and the ''majority world'' (those less developed). The Handbook offers key conceptual tools for housing scholars to unlock the diverse economies of housing. It also makes an inspiring read for students and scholars of any discipline who want to imagine alternative, more ethical futures which are already seeded in the practices of today.’
– Adriana Mihaela Soaita, Housing, Theory and Society
‘The editors and their many contributors have to be congratulated for an impressive volume that succeeds in presenting an empirically grounded and theoretically robust Marxism which is fit for the challenges of the Anthropocene. Whether one agrees with their approach and visions or not, this is a highly recommended read and a valuable resource for teaching on economic practices in our more-than-capitalist world.’
– Jens Kaae Fisker, Eurasian Geography and Economics
‘The Handbook of Diverse Economies offers a rich, beautiful, organic garden of ideas to nourish the project of “doing economy” differently. These sprouts and vines will, eventually, alter the institutional structures we inhabit.’
– Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US
‘Let us forget, just for a moment, “capitalism” and instead investigate the diversity of new forms of economic activities that are flourishing everywhere: this is the essential, energizing, message of J. K. Gibson-Graham, Kelly Dombroski and her colleagues. This innovative book must be absolutely put into all hands. It takes us on a long and rewarding journey around the world to explore ongoing experiences that all attempt to invent new ways of living together.’
– Michel Callon, Centre de Socologie de l''Innnovation, Mines ParisTech, France
‘So much of the world’s economy is informal, cooperative, community-based and unwaged: a diverse kaleidoscope of activities, all with their own ecologies, for worse . . . and often for better. How do they work? What work do they do? Finally a global, inclusive, and exhaustive guide to the planet’s actually-existing economies.’
– Paul Robbins, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US
‘In the face of a zombie capitalism that will not die, The Handbook of Diverse Economies offers the most potent response possible: the fierce creativity of life itself. The 58 essays of this book introduce us to a pluriverse of practical, non-capitalist lifeforms that are humane, socially grounded, and constantly evolving. Be prepared to enter a portal of new perspectives that loosens the grip of the capitalist imaginary and opens up a fertile transdisciplinary space for envisioning and making a new world.’
– David Bollier, coauthor of Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons
‘The Handbook of Diverse Economies marks a major milestone for the influential program of research, action, and experimentation initiated by Gibson-Graham’s The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) some 25 years ago. It presents an array of provocative strategies for “doing economy” differently, and for imagining and enacting different economic worlds.’
– Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia, Canada
– Adriana Mihaela Soaita, Housing, Theory and Society
‘The editors and their many contributors have to be congratulated for an impressive volume that succeeds in presenting an empirically grounded and theoretically robust Marxism which is fit for the challenges of the Anthropocene. Whether one agrees with their approach and visions or not, this is a highly recommended read and a valuable resource for teaching on economic practices in our more-than-capitalist world.’
– Jens Kaae Fisker, Eurasian Geography and Economics
‘The Handbook of Diverse Economies offers a rich, beautiful, organic garden of ideas to nourish the project of “doing economy” differently. These sprouts and vines will, eventually, alter the institutional structures we inhabit.’
– Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US
‘Let us forget, just for a moment, “capitalism” and instead investigate the diversity of new forms of economic activities that are flourishing everywhere: this is the essential, energizing, message of J. K. Gibson-Graham, Kelly Dombroski and her colleagues. This innovative book must be absolutely put into all hands. It takes us on a long and rewarding journey around the world to explore ongoing experiences that all attempt to invent new ways of living together.’
– Michel Callon, Centre de Socologie de l''Innnovation, Mines ParisTech, France
‘So much of the world’s economy is informal, cooperative, community-based and unwaged: a diverse kaleidoscope of activities, all with their own ecologies, for worse . . . and often for better. How do they work? What work do they do? Finally a global, inclusive, and exhaustive guide to the planet’s actually-existing economies.’
– Paul Robbins, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US
‘In the face of a zombie capitalism that will not die, The Handbook of Diverse Economies offers the most potent response possible: the fierce creativity of life itself. The 58 essays of this book introduce us to a pluriverse of practical, non-capitalist lifeforms that are humane, socially grounded, and constantly evolving. Be prepared to enter a portal of new perspectives that loosens the grip of the capitalist imaginary and opens up a fertile transdisciplinary space for envisioning and making a new world.’
– David Bollier, coauthor of Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons
‘The Handbook of Diverse Economies marks a major milestone for the influential program of research, action, and experimentation initiated by Gibson-Graham’s The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) some 25 years ago. It presents an array of provocative strategies for “doing economy” differently, and for imagining and enacting different economic worlds.’
– Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia, Canada
Contributors
Contributors: T. Alhojärvi, M. Bargh, E. Barron, K. Böhm, G. Bone Dodds, P. Bresnihan, G. Brown, J. Cameron, M. Clement-Couzner, L. Crabtree, G. Diprose, H. Do Thi, K. Dombroski, L. Drake, E. Erdem, E. Fraňková, N. Gabriel, K. Gibson, J.K. Gibson-Graham, C. Grasseni, R. Haryani, S. Healy, A.I. Heras, A. Hesse, J. Hesse, J. Hicks, C.S. Hossein, L. Hwang, P. Hyvärinen, C. Jerne, N. Johanisova, M. Kennedy, A. Kruzynski, D. Kuch, A. Liu, I. Lyne, A. Madden, Y.M. Madra, C. Marx, K. McKinnon, J. McNeill, E. Miller, B. Morgan, O. Morrow, L. Naylor, P. North, C. Özselçuk, M. Pavlovskaya, S. Pem, P. Placino, J. Pollard, A.T. Rodrigues, G. Roelvink, M. Safri, E. Sarmiento, C. Sato, D. Sharp, L. Sovová, K. St. Martin, K. Szreder, T. Tufuor, M. Vieta, J. Waitoa, J. Walenta, S.M. Waliuzzaman, R.J. White, T. White, C.C Williams
Contents
Contents:
1 Introduction to The Handbook of Diverse Economies : inventory as
ethical intervention 1
J.K. Gibson-Graham and Kelly Dombroski
PART I ENTERPRISE
2 Framing essay: the diversity of enterprise 26
Jenny Cameron
3 Worker cooperatives 40
Maliha Safri
4 Self-managed enterprise: worker-recuperated cooperatives in Argentina
and Latin America 48
Ana Inés Heras and Marcelo Vieta
5 Community enterprise: diverse designs for community-owned energy
infrastructure 56
Jarra Hicks
6 Eco-social enterprises: ethical business in a post-socialist context 65
Nadia Johanisova, Lucie Sovová and Eva Fraňková
7 Enterprising new worlds: social enterprise and the value of repair 74
Isaac Lyne and Anisah Madden
8 Anti-mafia enterprise: Italian strategies to counter violent economies 82
Christina Jerne
9 State and community enterprise: negotiating water management in rural Ireland 90
Patrick Bresnihan and Arielle Hesse
10 Independent and small businesses: diversity amongst the 99 per cent of
businesses 98
Peter North
11 Homo economicus and the capitalist corporation: decentring authority
and ownership 106
Jayme Walenta
PART II LABOUR
12 Framing essay: the diversity of labour 116
Katharine McKinnon
13 Precarious labour: Russia’s ‘other’ transition 129
Marianna Pavlovskaya
14 The persistence of informal and unpaid labour: evidence from UK households 137
Colin C. Williams and Richard J. White
15 Paid and unpaid labour: feminist economic activism in a diverse economy 146
Megan Clement-Couzner
16 Caring labour: redistributing care work 154
Kelly Dombroski
17 Non-human ‘labour’: the work of Earth Others 163
Elizabeth Barron and Jaqueline Hess
18 Collectively performed reciprocal labour: reading for possibility 170
Katherine Gibson
19 Informal mining labour: economic plurality and household survival strategies 179
Pryor Placino
20 Migrant women’s labour: sustaining livelihoods through diverse economic
practices in Accra, Ghana 186
Chizu Sato and Theresa Tufuor
PART III TRANSACTIONS
21 Framing essay: the diversity of transactions 195
Gradon Diprose
22 Gleaning: transactions at the nexus of food, commons and waste 206
Oona Morrow
23 Direct producer–consumer transactions: Community Supported Agriculture
and its offshoots 214
Ted White
24 Direct food provisioning: collective food procurement 223
Cristina Grasseni
25 Alternative currencies: diverse experiments 230
Peter North
26 Transacting services through time banking: renegotiating equality and
reshaping work 238
Gradon Diprose
27 Fair trade: market-based ethical encounters and the messy entanglements
of living well 246
Lindsay Naylor
28 Social procurement: generating social good through market transactions,
directly and indirectly 254
Joanne McNeill
29 Sharing cities: new urban imaginaries for diverse economies 262
Darren Sharp
PART IV PROPERTY
30 Framing essay: the diversity of property 271
Kevin St. Martin
31 Commoning property in the city: the ongoing work of making and remaking 283
Anna Kruzynski
32 Community land trusts: embracing the relationality of property 292
Louise Crabtree
33 Urban land markets in Africa: multiplying possibilities via a diverse
economy reading 300
Colin Marx
34 A Slow Food commons: cultivating conviviality across a range of property forms 308
Melissa Kennedy
35 Free universities as academic commons 316
Esra Erdem
36 Diverse legalities: pluralism and instrumentalism 323
Bronwen Morgan and Declan Kuch
PART V FINANCE
37 Framing essay: the diversity of finance 332
Maliha Safri and Yahya M. Madra
38 Islamic finance: diversity within difference 346
Gemma Bone Dodds and Jane Pollard
39 Rotating savings and credit associations: mutual aid financing 354
Caroline Shenaz Hossein
40 Indigenous finance: treaty settlement finance in Aotearoa New Zealand 362
Maria Bargh
41 Community finance: marshalling investments for community-owned
renewable energy enterprises 370
Jarra Hicks
42 Hacking finance: experiments with algorithmic activism 379
Tuomo Alhojärvi
PART VI SUBJECTIVITY
43 Framing essay: subjectivity in a diverse economy 389
Stephen Healy, Ceren Özselçuk and Yahya M. Madra
44 More-than-human agency: from the human economy to ecological livelihoods 402
Ethan Miller
45 On power and the uses of genealogy for building community economies 411
Nate Gabriel and Eric Sarmiento
46 Techniques for shifting economic subjectivity: promoting an assets-based
stance with artists and artisans 419
Abby Templer Rodrigues
47 Affect and subjectivity: learning to be affected in diverse economies
scholarship 428
Gerda Roelvink
48 Diverse subjectivities, sexualities and economies: challenging heteroand
homonormativity 436
Gavin Brown
49 Journeys of postdevelopment subjectivity transformation: a shared
narrative of scholars from the majority world 444
Anmeng Liu, S.M. Waliuzzaman, Huong Thi Do, Ririn Haryani and Sonam Pem
PART VII METHODOLOGY
50 Framing essay: diverse economies methodology 453
Gerda Roelvink
51 Translating diverse economies in the Anglocene 467
Tuomo Alhojärvi and Pieta Hyvärinen
52 Reading for economic difference 476
J.K. Gibson-Graham
53 Field methods for assemblage analysis: tracing relations between difference
and dominance 486
Eric Sarmiento
54 Visualizing and analysing diverse economies with GIS: a resource for
performative research 493
Luke Drake
55 Working with Indigenous methodologies: Kaupapa Māori meets diverse
economies 502
Joanne Waitoa and Kelly Dombroski
56 Action research for diverse economies 511
Jenny Cameron and Katherine Gibson
57 Focusing on assets: action research for an inclusive and diverse workplace 520
Leo Hwang
58 How to reclaim the economy using artistic means: the case of Company Drinks 527
Kathrin Böhm and Kuba Szreder
Index 535
1 Introduction to The Handbook of Diverse Economies : inventory as
ethical intervention 1
J.K. Gibson-Graham and Kelly Dombroski
PART I ENTERPRISE
2 Framing essay: the diversity of enterprise 26
Jenny Cameron
3 Worker cooperatives 40
Maliha Safri
4 Self-managed enterprise: worker-recuperated cooperatives in Argentina
and Latin America 48
Ana Inés Heras and Marcelo Vieta
5 Community enterprise: diverse designs for community-owned energy
infrastructure 56
Jarra Hicks
6 Eco-social enterprises: ethical business in a post-socialist context 65
Nadia Johanisova, Lucie Sovová and Eva Fraňková
7 Enterprising new worlds: social enterprise and the value of repair 74
Isaac Lyne and Anisah Madden
8 Anti-mafia enterprise: Italian strategies to counter violent economies 82
Christina Jerne
9 State and community enterprise: negotiating water management in rural Ireland 90
Patrick Bresnihan and Arielle Hesse
10 Independent and small businesses: diversity amongst the 99 per cent of
businesses 98
Peter North
11 Homo economicus and the capitalist corporation: decentring authority
and ownership 106
Jayme Walenta
PART II LABOUR
12 Framing essay: the diversity of labour 116
Katharine McKinnon
13 Precarious labour: Russia’s ‘other’ transition 129
Marianna Pavlovskaya
14 The persistence of informal and unpaid labour: evidence from UK households 137
Colin C. Williams and Richard J. White
15 Paid and unpaid labour: feminist economic activism in a diverse economy 146
Megan Clement-Couzner
16 Caring labour: redistributing care work 154
Kelly Dombroski
17 Non-human ‘labour’: the work of Earth Others 163
Elizabeth Barron and Jaqueline Hess
18 Collectively performed reciprocal labour: reading for possibility 170
Katherine Gibson
19 Informal mining labour: economic plurality and household survival strategies 179
Pryor Placino
20 Migrant women’s labour: sustaining livelihoods through diverse economic
practices in Accra, Ghana 186
Chizu Sato and Theresa Tufuor
PART III TRANSACTIONS
21 Framing essay: the diversity of transactions 195
Gradon Diprose
22 Gleaning: transactions at the nexus of food, commons and waste 206
Oona Morrow
23 Direct producer–consumer transactions: Community Supported Agriculture
and its offshoots 214
Ted White
24 Direct food provisioning: collective food procurement 223
Cristina Grasseni
25 Alternative currencies: diverse experiments 230
Peter North
26 Transacting services through time banking: renegotiating equality and
reshaping work 238
Gradon Diprose
27 Fair trade: market-based ethical encounters and the messy entanglements
of living well 246
Lindsay Naylor
28 Social procurement: generating social good through market transactions,
directly and indirectly 254
Joanne McNeill
29 Sharing cities: new urban imaginaries for diverse economies 262
Darren Sharp
PART IV PROPERTY
30 Framing essay: the diversity of property 271
Kevin St. Martin
31 Commoning property in the city: the ongoing work of making and remaking 283
Anna Kruzynski
32 Community land trusts: embracing the relationality of property 292
Louise Crabtree
33 Urban land markets in Africa: multiplying possibilities via a diverse
economy reading 300
Colin Marx
34 A Slow Food commons: cultivating conviviality across a range of property forms 308
Melissa Kennedy
35 Free universities as academic commons 316
Esra Erdem
36 Diverse legalities: pluralism and instrumentalism 323
Bronwen Morgan and Declan Kuch
PART V FINANCE
37 Framing essay: the diversity of finance 332
Maliha Safri and Yahya M. Madra
38 Islamic finance: diversity within difference 346
Gemma Bone Dodds and Jane Pollard
39 Rotating savings and credit associations: mutual aid financing 354
Caroline Shenaz Hossein
40 Indigenous finance: treaty settlement finance in Aotearoa New Zealand 362
Maria Bargh
41 Community finance: marshalling investments for community-owned
renewable energy enterprises 370
Jarra Hicks
42 Hacking finance: experiments with algorithmic activism 379
Tuomo Alhojärvi
PART VI SUBJECTIVITY
43 Framing essay: subjectivity in a diverse economy 389
Stephen Healy, Ceren Özselçuk and Yahya M. Madra
44 More-than-human agency: from the human economy to ecological livelihoods 402
Ethan Miller
45 On power and the uses of genealogy for building community economies 411
Nate Gabriel and Eric Sarmiento
46 Techniques for shifting economic subjectivity: promoting an assets-based
stance with artists and artisans 419
Abby Templer Rodrigues
47 Affect and subjectivity: learning to be affected in diverse economies
scholarship 428
Gerda Roelvink
48 Diverse subjectivities, sexualities and economies: challenging heteroand
homonormativity 436
Gavin Brown
49 Journeys of postdevelopment subjectivity transformation: a shared
narrative of scholars from the majority world 444
Anmeng Liu, S.M. Waliuzzaman, Huong Thi Do, Ririn Haryani and Sonam Pem
PART VII METHODOLOGY
50 Framing essay: diverse economies methodology 453
Gerda Roelvink
51 Translating diverse economies in the Anglocene 467
Tuomo Alhojärvi and Pieta Hyvärinen
52 Reading for economic difference 476
J.K. Gibson-Graham
53 Field methods for assemblage analysis: tracing relations between difference
and dominance 486
Eric Sarmiento
54 Visualizing and analysing diverse economies with GIS: a resource for
performative research 493
Luke Drake
55 Working with Indigenous methodologies: Kaupapa Māori meets diverse
economies 502
Joanne Waitoa and Kelly Dombroski
56 Action research for diverse economies 511
Jenny Cameron and Katherine Gibson
57 Focusing on assets: action research for an inclusive and diverse workplace 520
Leo Hwang
58 How to reclaim the economy using artistic means: the case of Company Drinks 527
Kathrin Böhm and Kuba Szreder
Index 535
