Cuban ‘Co-ops’ and Wanigela ‘Wantoks’: Engaging with Diverse Economic Practices, in Place

Abstract

‘Co-ops’ and ‘wantoks’ represent alternative economic practices of collectivities in out-of-the-way places. In this chapter I interrogate them using a diverse economy analytic to show how a community economies perspective provides critical leverage into thinking economies differently. Such an analysis is urgent in light of the continued and uncritical uptake of neoliberal development models in many different parts of the world. I argue that economic emancipatory practices of a community economies perspective can contribute to the reconfiguration of new economic arrangements on all geographic scales. The social relations that emerge in the practice of community economies have the potential to deal with gender justice imperatives such as ending violence against women. They also offer ways to account for the influence of non-human agents which shape alternative economies of practice. In addition, the recent theorizing of community economies offers productive news ways of taking forward political engagement.