| 1. |
- Barinaga, Ester
(author)
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A route to commons-based democratic monies? Embedding the governance of money in traditional communal institutions
- 2020
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In: Frontiers in Blockchain. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2624-7852. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The financial crisis of 2008 resulted, among other, on a popular awareness that the monetary system was not working for the interest of the many. The blockchain technology that was launched soon after offered monetary activists and entrepreneurs a tool to re-imagine, re-claim and re-organize money along a vague ideal of a commons paradigm. A wave of monetary experimentation ensued that took a most concrete form in two entrepreneurial spaces: crypto-currencies with global ambitions and local currencies based on communal democracy. Seemingly distinct on the outset, both strands share a determination to develop a monetary system that serves the many. This has led participants on both sides to reach out toward each other. The article looks at one such attempt: the Sarafu community crypto-currencies in Kenya. These currencies are embedding the creation of money in traditional community savings groups. Using Eleanor Ostrom’s framework and building on interview and ethnographic material, the article identifies the economic logic of mutualization proper of the savings groups as one that transforms private assets (one’s savings) into a financial commons for the group. To build on this logic, the Sarafu model in-the-making is embedding the production and governance of the new community cryptocurrencies in these saving groups. In that doing, Sarafu has the potential to advance a new architecture of money. However, findings suggest that the standardization and automation of the new monetary rules through smart contracts impose neoliberal ideas that slipped into the code, risking the erosion of the very communal decision-making processes that made savings groups interesting anchors of a money commons in the first place.
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| 2. |
- Barinaga, Ester
(author)
-
Aboke-pesa : Scaling up a mutual credit currency. Teaching Case
- 2024
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The case presents Aboke-pesa, a local complementary currency in a poor rural area of Western Kenya.The reader gets an insight into the economic context of rural areas in the Global South, the work of introducing digital community currencies through farmers’ cooperatives, one of the most common designs of these currencies (mutual credit systems or LETS) as well as the particular challenges digital currencies encounter in rural areas of the Global South. Faced with an increase number of farmers wanting to join the currency system, the reader is then presented with the question of how to scale up such initiatives without compromising the participatory and democratic nature of their governance structures.The case ends at the moment the management team of the farmers’ cooperative has to decide on the currency’s future scaling strategy.
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| 3. |
- Barinaga, Ester
(author)
-
Aboke-pesa. Teaching Note
- 2024
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- A note with instructions for teaching the case with the same title.
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| 4. |
- Barinaga, Ester, et al.
(author)
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Commons-based monies for an inclusive and resilient future
- 2021
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In: Climate Adaptation : Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change - Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change. - 9781912092123 ; , s. 301-321
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Where is the world really heading, and what can we do about it? This book, edited by the Arkbound Foundation, takes an unflinching look at climate change – drawing upon the latest data to analyse what the next decades hold in store. With atmospheric CO2 at unprecedented levels and insufficient action being taken to prevent a rise in temperatures above 2 degrees centigrade, we are not just looking at significant disruption but the possibility of societal collapse. For the first time ever, the magnitude of this challenge is faced head on, with avenues to truly address it presented. Case studies and models from 16 authors around the world show ways that we can build adaptation and resilience, as well as what ‘zero emissions’ really mean.
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| 5. |
- Barinaga, Ester, et al.
(author)
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Community Currencies as Means of Local Economic Empowerment
- 2019
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Community currencies have emerged as a tool for building more inclusive local economic development and governance. Grassroots organisations in Nairobi and Mombasa (Kenya) have been experimenting with this form of local monies. Communities in informal settlements in Kisumu have shown interest in intro- ducing their own community currency. Challenges remain concerning the best diffusion strategy of such grassroots monetary innovations among communities and local governments. This policy brief focuses on how to involve residents, civil society, small entrepreneurs as well as local government officers and politicians so as to increase local representation and participation in this grassroots innovation
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| 6. |
- Barinaga, Ester, et al.
(author)
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Community Currencies as Means of Local Economic Empowerment : Innovations from Mombasa and Nairobi to Kisumu, Kenya
- 2019
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In: Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD). ; :4
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Community currencies have emerged as a tool for building more inclusive local economic development and governance. Grassroots organisations in Nairobi and Mombasa (Kenya) have been experimenting with this form of local monies. Communities in informal settlements in Kisumu have shown interest in introducing their own community currency. Challenges remain concerning the best diffusion strategy of such grassroots monetary innovations among communities and local governments. This policy brief focuses on how to involve residents, civil society, small entrepreneurs as well as local government officers and politicians so as to increase local representation and participation in this grassroots innovation.
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| 7. |
- Barinaga, Ester
(author)
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'Cultural diversity' at work : 'National culture' as a discourse organizing an international project group
- 2007
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In: Human Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 0018-7267 .- 1741-282X. ; 60:2, s. 315-340
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research to date concurs in maintaining that performance of nationally homogeneous workgroups differs if compared to heterogeneous ones. Yet, results are mixed on the relationship between cultural diversity and workgroup outcomes. The article argues that cultural differences are given explanatory authority, cultural diversity acquiring a positivist status, and group members being treated as 'dopes of their culture'. An alternative approach is to conceive 'cultural diversity' and 'national culture' as discursive resources used by group members in everyday group life. The author followed an international project group for over 17 months,observing how group members discussed and made sense of what went on. Findings suggest that the way members in international project groups use the 'national/cultural' discourse plays a crucial role in the organization of the project. More specifically, results demonstrate that group members shaped and developed their international project in important ways by using the discourses on 'national culture' and 'cultural diversity' to excuse confusion and misunderstanding, to position themselves vis-à-vis the group, to justify decisions and to give the group a raison d'être. Implications are drawn concerning the need for researchers to acknowledge actors' space for choice in group-life.
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| 8. |
- Barinaga, Ester, et al.
(author)
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Culture and Identity in Organization Studies
- 2013
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In: Management: An advanced introduction. - 9789144093284 ; , s. 231-256
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter deals with culture and identity in management studies. An interest in culture and identity can be understood as an interest in the symbolic side of the organization that deals with meaning, interpretation, symbols and action (rather than behavior). The symbolic side of enterprise has always been present in organization studies; since the early 1980s, however, this has predominantly been understood and explored through the concepts of culture and identity. Here we will follow the chronology of how the two concepts became prominent in organization studies. That is, we are going to start with an account of the emergence of culture in organizational analysis, proceed with an account of the emergence of identity, and conclude with a summary of what we think are the main contributions of culture and identity in organization studies.
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| 9. |
- Barinaga, Ester
(author)
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ECO-Kitchen
- 2017
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Book (peer-reviewed)abstract
- On starting up a social venture to increase the nutritional intake of slum children in Chennai, India.
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| 10. |
- Barinaga, Ester, et al.
(author)
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FairCoop : The global cooperative and its collaborative cryptocurrency
- 2019
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The case is about today's crypto-activists' efforts to organise a cooperative global economic system that is an alternative to the State and to market capitalism. Through the vantage point of FairCoop, the reader gets an insight on the necessary elements needed to consider when organizing an economic system for the commons: a community that produces, a market in which products can be exchanged, and an infrastructure that enables the exchange of products. Readers are then presented with some of the challenges the initiative faces as it needs to interact with the global capitalist economy around it. The case ends at the moment the cooperative needs to decide on how to relate its currency to other currencies in the crypto-market.
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