ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the author’s experiences of having lived in a microcredit neighborhood in the Indian state of Kerala for approximately one year. It deals with the discourse on microcredit in the context of globalization and explores relations between the practice of microcredit and violence against women. The recipients of microcredit are people with few resources, who lack collateral security to borrow money from the formal banking system, and who normally do not have an assured source of income through a stable job. One of the first things that should be taken into consideration when contextualizing microcredit in any given cultural setting is the enduring reality of globalization. The chapter concludes with the presentation of several case studies to show the impact of microcredit on violence in family and society and to suggest that microcredit has a specifically complicated relation to violence against women.
