villagefinance

As observed by communications theorist Walter Ong, villagers in oral communities often don’t trust written text.

Ong cites a study of community decision-making from 12^th century England. (Orality and Literacy, p. 95). Writing already had a long history in England, so it would have been possible to use birth certificates to establish the age of majority of the heir to an estate. But people were skeptical, noting the problems and costs involved in preventing tampering or frauds. Subsequent studies have shown this concern to be well founded. Nearly half of the birth certificates from this period were manipulated after they were prepared!

So they retained the traditional solution:  gathering together “mature wise seniors of many years, having good testimony”, and publicly discussing the age of the heir with them, until agreement was reached. This mix of collective memory and consensus building is typical of oral information management.

The harbingers of text in today’s villagers are not always benign. In South Asia literate moneylenders and land-holders often tamper with local ownership papers, depriving poor people of their land. Muktar Mai’s story received global coverage. After she was gang-raped on the orders of her village council, she testified at the local police station. The police officer falsified her testimony in the written version and she innocently gave her thumbprint, undercutting her case at trial.

Modern banking is based on text, but it was not always so. If we seriously believe village finance should meet client demand, it’s time to rethink our models.