a credit institution

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The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yoruba Author(s): William R. Bascom Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 82, No. 1 (Jan. - Jun., 1952), pp. 63-69 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2844040 . Accessed: 08/02/2011 02:47 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rai. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org

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Page 1: A Credit Institution

The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the YorubaAuthor(s): William R. BascomSource: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.82, No. 1 (Jan. - Jun., 1952), pp. 63-69Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2844040 .Accessed: 08/02/2011 02:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rai. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

http://www.jstor.org

Page 2: A Credit Institution

63

THE ESUSU: A CREDIT INSTITUTION OF THE YORUBA

By WILLIAM R. BASCOM

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University

The esusu, one of the economic institutions of the Yoruba of Nigeria,' has elements which resemble a fcredit union, an insurance scheme and a savings club, but it is distinct from all of these. The esusu (esusu', ,est) is a fund to which a group of individuals make fixed contributions of money at fixed intervals; the total amount contributed by the entire group is assigned to each of the members in rotation,

Aside from the Yoruba, there is an excellent description of this institution among the neighbouring Nupe (Nadel, 1942, p. 371-3), where it is known as dashi (adashi in Hausa), with essentially the same patterns.2 It has also been recorded among the Negroes of Trinidad, where it is known as susu and where it is obviously an African retention which can be traced back to a Yoruba origin (Herskovits, 1947, p. 76-7, 292). In Nigeria the esusu group is com- monly known in English as a " contributions club."

In the extensive literature on the Yoruba them- selves, the esusu is only infrequently mentioned; the most detailed description is that of Aji?afe (1924, p. 48-9), which is quoted here in its six parts (a-f) in full in the footnotes. Johnson (1921, p. 119) states briefly that "' Esusu is a universal custom for clubbing together of a number of persons for monetary aid. A fixed sum agreed upon is given by each at a fixed

1 Field work in Ife and Igana, Nigeria, in 1937-38, was made possible by a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council of New York City, under the sponsorship of the Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University. Acknowledgment is also made to the Viking Fund of New York City and to the Committee on Research of the Graduate School of Northwestern University for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

2 On returning to Nigeria for further work among the Yoruba in 1950-51, I learned that it is also found among the Ibo and Ibibio, and that in the area where these two peoples adjoin the settlement of esusu accounts constitutes a high percentage of the cases tried in the courts. In this area it is kinown as esusu oi by the Ibo word etato.

time (usually every week) and place, under a presi- dent; the total amount is paid over to each member in rotation. This enables a poor man to do something worth-while where a lump sum is required. There are laws regulating this system." In the Yoruba Dictionary (1937, Pt. II, p. 72), esu (i.e., esusu) is defined as " a club organized for the purpose of assisting members in money matters."

Actually the esusu differs from a club in that many esusu groups hold no meetings and that the members frequently are not known to one another. Even the head of the esusu group may not know who all the members are. Moreover, the term esusu refers to the fund rather than to the group of contributors. One may say " I took my esusu (money) to-day," but one must say " I went to the meeting (or place) of my esusu to-day."

The number of contributors, the size of the contri- butions and the length of the intervals at which they are made vary from one group to another. For the purpose of illustration, however, we may imagine a simple case where twenty members contribute one shilling each, monthly. At the end of twenty months, which completes the cycle in this case, each member will have contributed twenty shillings or one pound, and will, on one occasion, have received the amount of one pound in return.3 In theory, at least, each member is paid back in one, lump sum exactly what he has paid in contributions during the course of one cycle.4 There is neither gain nor loss, but the

3 Ajj?afe states: " There is a certain society called Esusu. This society deals with monetary matters only, and it helps its members to save and raise money thus:

(a) Every member shall pay a certain fixed sum of money regularly at a fixed time (say every fifth or ninth day). And one of the subscribing members shall take the total amount thus subscribed for his or her own personal use. The next subscription shall be taken by another member; this shall so continue rotationally until every member has taken."

4 The deviations from this rule are discussed below.

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64 WILLIAM R. BASCOM

advantage to the members is that they have available,, a large sum of money with which to make expensive purchases or to meet debts of considerable size. Furthermore, an attempt is made to pay the fund to members at times when they have special need of it for particular purposes. Although the mechanism differs, its function resembles that of instalment buying in Western society.

The size of the contributions varies widely from one esusu group to another, although one penny, three- pence and one shilling are probably the most common amounts. Contributions of -d., ld., 3d., 6d., Is., 2s., 5s., lOs., and even ?5 were cited by informants in 1937, but other sums may be agreed upon. The contributions are usually made monthly, fortnightly (every " fifteenth" day according to Yoruba reckon- ing5), every eight days (every " ninth" day), or every four days (every " fifth " day). However, any con- venient interval may be selected, and the market women of Ife have special esusu groups of their own, with contributions of a halfpenny or one penny daily. The length of the cycle depends both on the length of the intervals between contributions and on the number of members. Several esusu in Ife with intervals of eight days were said to have cycles of four or five years, which would give a membership of about 200. The value of the esusu fund collected at the end of each interval depends upon the size of the contributions and on the number of members. The value of the fund is generally set at a round number, such as Is., 5s., lOs., ?1, ?5 or ?10, so that the number of " memberships " is indirectly related to the size of the contributions. If eighteen members have agreed to join an esusu group with contributions of one shilling each, two of them will usually volunteer to pay two shillings each in order to bring the value of the fund up to an even pound.

The number of memberships need not, therefore, be the same as the number of members. A single individual may hold more than one " membership " in a given esusu group by regularly making more than one contribution and receiving the fund more than once during a single cycle. Conversely, a single " membership" may be shared by two or more

5 In counting time the Yoruba include both the initial and final day. Thus Sunday comes every " eighth " day (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday). The traditional Yoruba " week " consists of four days, so that the eight day interval is the equivalent of two Yoruba weeks.

individuals who are not able to afford the entire contribution separately. Thus a contribution of one shilling may be divided between two individuals who give sixpence each, between three individuals two of whom give threepence each while the third contributes sixpence, or between three individuals who give four- pence each. These several individuals count as a single member of the esusu, and when their tum comes to receive the esusu fund they share it propor- tionately according to their contributions. Again each individual receives exactly what he has actually contributed. It is also common for a single individual to belong at the same time to several different esusu groups,6 which may have different contributions and varying intervals of payment. A poor man cannot afford to join esusu groups with large contributions, while a wealthy man does not bother with those with small contributions.

The larger esusu groups are divided into four or more subgroups or " roads " (pna), which are num- bered (first, second, third, fourth) according to the order in which they receive the fund, which is rotated among the subgroups in turn. If, in our simplified example, we assume that there are four subgroups, each with five members, the order in which the monthly fund of one pound is received by the twenty members can be represented as follows:

First Second Third Fourth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

This representation is idealized, as already indicated, in that a single individual may hold more than one membership (e.g., 2, 6 and 10 by paying three shillings monthly), and that a single membership (e.g. 6) may be shared by several individuals who contribute one shilling jointly. It is further idealized in that the

6 This is also true in Trinidad: " Nor is a member limited to joining' but one susu, for if his earnings permit, he may belong to several." In Trinidad, however, " Members each contribute the same amount" and no mention is made of sharing a membership or of several memberships being held by the same individual. This latter feature is described by Aji?afe: " (d) A man may pay twice the fixed sum regularly. In that case he will be considered as paying for two men and he shall be entitled to two men's portions. It matters not what time he takes the first portion, or what time he takes the second. Should a man pay for the amount equivalent to three times the fixed amount or more, he shall be entitled to take Esusu three or more times as the case may be."

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The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yoruba 65

fund may be split among two or more members of the same subgroup, that the order in which the fund is received may be varied from one cycle to another within the subgroup to make allowance for the momentary needs of its members, and that the sub- groups do not necessarily have an equal number of members and thus do not receive the fund the same number of times during a cycle.

Anyone who wishes to do so may found an esusu group, provided that others are willing to entrust their money to him. He simply announces his pro- posal to his friends, and those who wish to join indicate their intention. They, in turn, inform their acquaintalnces of the proposed esusu, and those who are interested express their desire to join. The founder becomes the head of the esusu (olori, olori esusu, olori esu),7 and is responsible for the fund and its payment to the members or the subgroups in rotation. Friends of the founder who have applied directly to him for admission become " heads of the roads " (olori pna),8 and may be made responsible for collecting the contributions and making the disburse- ments within their subgroups, which consist of the members who have applied to them rather than to the founder for admission. Because of the manner in which they are formed, the subgroups may vary in size. It is possible, according to informants, for a subgroup to consist of only one individual, the " head of the road," where an individual applies directly to the founder for admission but brings no other members into the esusu group The first round is not usually paid out at the time it is collected since it is customary to wait until the second interval to see if any other people apply for membership, and then pay out two funds at the same time. Those who ask to join an esusu group may, be refused because it is felt that they will not keep up their payments, in order to keep the value of the fund at a convenient round number, or to keep from having so many members that it would be difficult to keep track of their payments.

A member pays his contributions to the head of his subgroup, and may have no direct dealings with the esusu head. The heads of the subgroups turn over their collections to the head of the esusu, see to it that their subgroups receive the fund in proper

7 Known as " Captain" in Trinidad. 8 Subgroups and heads of subgroups are not recorded for

Trinidad, where the organization of the susu group is " of the sim-plest."

order, and pay out the fund to the members of their subgroups. The head of the esusu may delegate considerable authority to the heads of his subgroups, holding them responsible only for bringing in the correct amount of money at the end of each interval, and leaving it to them to make the collections. In some cases the head of the esusu does not know the identity of the members, since he deals only with the heads of his subgroups. At least one man in Ife, however, refused to organize his esusu into subgroups, insisting on knowing each of his members personally and making his collections directly from them.

A member who has an immediate need for money to cover a specific purchase or debt may apply to the head of his subgroup for the esusu fund. Unless the head of his subgroup feels that he is likely to default or that he is misrepresenting the urgency of his need, the fund is paid to him the next time that it becomes the turn of his subgroup. According to, informants, the order of rotation of the fund among the subgroups would not be altered to meet individual needs, but otherwise applications of this kind are treated with consideration by the heads of the subgroups. When the fund is assigned on the basis of need rather than rotation, it is referred to as " a hand of the esusu" (pwp esusu kan).9 If several members apply for the same fund, the head of the subgroup has the authority to assign it to the first applicant, or to split it among two or more members. An individual who applies for the fund at a specific time generally must be prepared to accept one of these two alternatives, or to have his request refused. Only an unusually considerate head of a subgroup would agree to let a member have a specific amount that he needs at the moment, rather than assigning him the whole fund, half the fund, or a third or fourth part of it. If the esusu fund is split in this way between two or more members, each of them will split the fund again before the end of the cycle so that they receive the full amount that they have paid in. The splitting of the esusu funds between several members in this way is also encouraged by some heads of the subgroups in order to decrease the chances of their defaulting after they have received the fund.

The member who receives the fund must contribute to it and to all subsequent funds until the cycle is completed, after which he is free to withdraw from the group if he wishes. When a member defaults during a cycle in which he has received all or part

9 In Trinidad every fund is called a " hand." (6736) E

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66 WILLIAM R. BASCOM

of the fund, the head of his subgroup asks him to repay whatever excess he has been paid Qver the amount that he has contributed. If a defaulter fails to pay he can be sued in court for what he 'owes, and the case is treated under customary law like one involving debts.10 As in the case of bad debts, however, it may be impossible to recover the money even when a favourable decision has been won in court, while in addition the cost of the summons fee may be lost. As a result the esusu head makes every effort to settle the matter out of court. Some esusu heads insist on keeping the first round of contribu- tions at the begin-ning of each cycle as a reserve to cover deficits incurred by members defaulting. In other cases the deficit may be met from a subsequent round of contributions which is collected for this purpose without paying out the fund on that occasion.

When a member defaults during a cycle in which he has not received the fund or where he has paid in more than he has taken out, he does not lose what he has contributed. He applies to the esusu head through the head of his subgroup for the balance that is due him, and at the end of the cycle he is paid from the amount that is left over. When a meliiber defaults, an attempt is made to find someone else to take his place, or one of the members to assume an additional contribution so that the value of the fund will not have to be decreased.11 In some cases the head of the esusu holds the subheads respon- sible for the contributions of any defaulters within their own subgroups. In both cases, the excess contributions are returned to those who have paid them when the esusu fund is divided. An individual's credits and debits in an esusu group are inherited as a part of his estate.'2

When a member defaults, it is said that " he dies on the road," o ku s(i)-pna. If an individual who

10 AjPAafe states: " (b) Should one of the members who has taken the Esusu fail to continue to pay the regular subscription, such a member must be held responsible for his or her sub- scription to the remaining members who have not taken their own Esusu. Payments shall be enforced as in the case of debt."

11 Aji?afe states: " (c) But if a member who has not taken fails to continue, another person may take up his place, and when that one takes the Esusu, he shall refund to the first man (his predecessor) the amount subscribed by him (the first man)."

12Aji?afe states: (f) Should a member of the Esusu society die while the Esusu is not closed, his children or nearest of kin receive the amount subscribed by him or pay the amount standing against him."

begins with five " memberships " finds it necessary to reduce his contributions to an amount equivalent to two " memberships," three members are con- sidered to have " died on the road." He receives the fund twice during that cycle and collects the balance due him after the cycle has been completed. When a large number of members default on their payments, even if the surpluses are recovered from those who have received the fund, the " esusu is scattered," esusu f. Each member asks the head of his subgroup for a refund of the money he has contri- buted. These requests are relayed to the head of the esusu, who repays them out of what he collects from those who received the fund during the incomplete final cycle. The group may also be disbanded at the end of a cycle, without financial complications, if an insufficient number of members wish to continue.

Members commonly keep track of their contribu- tions by marking a line for each payment on the wall of their rooms, and each member makes a definite effort to pay his contributions promptly. If a member does not bring his contribution on the date that it is expected, the head of his subgroup sends to him for it. If the head of his subgroup is lenient, a member does not lose his membership in the esusu group or forfeit the money he has already paid in if his contri- bution is late. However, members who are slow in paying their contributions are considered bad risks. It is felt that they may deiault after they have received the esusu fund so that, regardless of their irmnediate needs, they are not -permitted to receive the fund until the end of the cycle. The penalty for failure to pay contributions promptly is forfeiture of the chance to receive the fund wh-en it is most needed.

Two types of esusu groups were differentiated by informants:, those whose membership is open to anyone, although it may be drawn largely from the group of relatives inhabiting the compound of the founder; and those whose membership is restricted primarily to the inhabitants of one compound. 13

The restricted esusu groups are associated with the meetings of the wives of the compound, ipade obinrin ile,14 and the meetings of the daughters of the com- pound, ipade pmp-(o)binrin ile, with the contributions and the disbursement of the fund occurring at their regular meetings. In the former case, the iyale acts

13 For further details on the compound and on the town wards and precincts mentioned below, see W. R. Bascom, 1944, pp. 9-20.

14 Ipade is epade in Ife.

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The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yoruba 67

as the head of the esusu and, if none of the members have made special application for the fund, it is customarily given to the woman responsible for providing food for that particular meeting. Although the men of the compound hold similar meetings, ipade pmp-(p)kunrin ile, they prohibit the formation of esusu within their groups because it is felt that the harmony of the compound, which is considered far more important than an esusu, might be disturbed if the esu'su were to be " scattered."

Unrestricted esusu, whose membership is open to all, are very common. According to informants there is one in every compound in Ife ; in other words, in each compound someone has founded an esusu which is open to individuals from all parts of the city. The larger of the unrestricted esusu may include members from each of the five wards of Ife, and the subgroups may correspond to the precincts, i.e., the political subdivisions 6f the wards. When the amount of the esusu fund is very large, for example, twenty pounds or more, a diviner (babalawo) may be' called in to select the sub-head for each precinct, so as to be certain of finding one who will not abscond with the funds.15

The case of a restricted esusu of the daughters of a compound may be examined in some detail. This group was founded about 1927 by Humuani, who served as informant. At one of the regular meetings of the daughters of the compound, she suggested the formation of an esusu " for the good of the com- pound " and " in order to help the compound." Before it was actually established, some of the daughters of the compound brought their contribu- tions to Humuani, and to Alice, Comfort and Virginia. These girls were appointed heads of the four subgroups when the esusu was established at a subsequent meeting of the daughters of the com- pound. Humuani automatically became the head of the esusu as well, because she had first suggested it. The standard contribution was set at one shilling monthly and forty memberships were taken, giving a total fund of two pounds. Humuani herself did not know how many individuals were actually represented by the forty memberships, or how many of the members were actually from her own com- pound, except that in her own subgroup there was

15 The divination technique employed is that of proposing specific alternatives (ibo). The names of the members of a precinct are mentioned in a haphazard manner, and the diviner must determine whether the answer is " Yes " or " No " until one person is designated by an affirmative.

one girl from a different compound. Since the group was made up almost exclusively of daughters of the same compound, who were related to each other, the membership of the four subgroups was evened up. Each of the four subheads was put in charge of ten members with whom she had influence, so that it would be easier for her to collect their contributions. Each was made responsible for collecting ten shillings and for the contribiitions of any defaulters, for which they were to be reimbursed at the end of each cycle. None of the funds were set aside for the officers, who served without pay. In September, 1937, this esusu had completed six cycles, each lasting about twenty months, and its officers were waiting for the beginning of the cocoa season when people would have mnore money before starting a new cycle.

In the compound of a different informant there was an unrestricted esusu with a contribution of three- pence for which the fund disbursed amounted to thirty shillings, giving a membership of 120. Another unrestricted esusu, centred in the compound of his wife, had a contribution of one shilling and a fund of six pounds, again giving a membership of 120. This second informant himself belonged to a third esusu group with a contribution of ten shillings monthly and a membership of fourteen,- giving a total fund of seven pounds. This latter is a new type of unrestricted esusu, limited to salaried men, with the exception of the informant himself, who has a reputation for being able to earn money but who must wait until the very end of each cycle to receive the fund because he does not have a regular income."6 Formerly, when he was employed by the Nigerian Police, he belonged to an esusu group consisting of twenty-four of his colleagues which had a contribution of five pounds monthly or a fund of ?120. This esusu continued until the government prohibited its employees from joining eSusu in order to protect them from going into debt when the esusu " scat- tered " or the esusu head absconded with the funds.

Absconding with esusu funds is common enough

16 It seems reasonable to assume that this type did not exist before wages and salaries were paid by Europeans. In Trinidad wages are an important source of income: " The point of importance is to have a membership able to make the s-tipulated contributions when these are due. A susu group, for example, made up of Public Works Department employees would not take in a man or woman whose employ- ment was casual. An astute move for such a susu is to make the ' driver' its captain, since, when personnel are to be laid off, he will see to it that members of the group are not among them."

(6736) E 2

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68 WILLIAM R. BASCOM

to make the Yoruba wary of entrusting their money to strangers.17 The reputation of the esusu head is as important a consideration in joining an esusu group as the amount of the contributions and the intervals at which these become due. In order to feel that his money is safe, an individual joins an esusu group headed by a person who has an established reputation for honesty, and a man who is known to be dishonest would find it almost impos- sible to found an esusu group. Since most individuals join through the heads of the subgroups and may have no direct contact with the esusu head himself, they first ask who the head of the esusu is. This is also considered a wise precaution if the solicitor is suspected of collecting money under false pretences.

The heads of restricted esusu groups generally make no profit. They have only the privilege of being recognized as the head of the, group, and the satisfaction of asserting their authority over its members by granting or denying their request for funds. In some unrestricted esusu groups, the members willingly contribute an additional round at the end of each cycle which is divided among the head and subheads.18 There are, moreover, indivi- duals who " make a business " out of being the head of unrestricted esusu groups, although the practices employed by these professionals are said not to occur in esusu groups restricted to the members of a com- pound or to salaried employees. Although these practices are regarded as unscrupulous, they are so difficult to prevent that they are more or less taken for granted. It is commonly expected that when one joins an unrestricted esusu, two of the funds each cycle will be kept by the esusu head ; but it is thought to be unlikely that the esusu head could take a third

17 In Trinidad: "The most important member is the captain, or treasurer, who must be a person of responsibility. This does not always occur, and it was the abuse of the susu mechanism by unscrupulous but plausible organizers that led to the recognition of the institution in law and the consequent protection of its members against such exploitation. This danger is fully recognized in Toco, where it is held that a treasurer who draws the first ' hand ' is a person to be watched."

18 Ajiqafe describes two provisions which were not mentioned by Ife informants: " (c) Sometimes Esusu is not taken rotationally. The regular subscriptions are taken and kept by the president. At the end of three months or any other time decided by the members, the total amount is brought forth and every member receives his total subscription. The president, who is also the treasurer, is entitled to the amount equivalent to 21 per cent. from the amount subscribed by every member."

round for himself during the cycle without being caught.

If an esusu group has a large number of uneducated members contributing small amounts, it is most difficult for them to prevent the esusu head from taking one or two rounds for himself. Even if one of the members noticed that his tally showed that he had contributed his penny fifty times while he had received only four shillings (48 pence) when he took the fund, he might not be certain that the discrepancy was not due to his miscalculation. However, if still another contribution were called for, he would compare notes with other members and refuse to pay. Since it is almost impossible to prove the exact number of contributions which have actually been made, such a case would not be taken to court. However, when the cycle was completed, all those who suspected the head of the esusu of cheating would drop out. The individual member is protected against unscru- pulous and dishonest esusu heads mainly by the right of withdrawal from the group, and by the fact that the head knows that he will lose his members if he is too greedy.

Another of the sharp practices of a professional esusu head is to keep the first round for himself, saying that it is a reserve against defaulters but failing to account for its expenditure. Another is to insist that a member forfeits his equity in the fund if he does not make his payments promptly by a certain hour of the appointed day. Traditionally the head of the esusu kept track of the contributions and of the disbursements of the funds by a series of marks on the wall of his' room. To-day a literate member of the group may serve as its clerk (akpwe) and keep its accounts, but even this does not suffice to prevent members from overpaying. Professional esusu heads commonly guard against defaulters by establishing a reserve fund or by holding the sub- heads responsible for the contributions of defaulters within their subgroups. The heads of the subgroups, in turn, may insist on splitting each fund among several members to decrease the chances of their defaulting.

The professional esusu head may sit in his house and wait for the heads of the subgroups to bring the contributions to him, or he may have the members bring their contributions directly to him. In neither case are there meetings of the members, although with esusu groups headed by non-professionals, the members may sit down together at regular meetings. Such a meeting is known as a]p esusu or a]p esu, and

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The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yoruba 69

the house in which it is held is referred to as ile esusu or ile esu. The contributions are paid at these meetings and there may be speeches urging the members to bring in their contributions promptly so that the group will not break up. Afterwards the members may eat together before adjourning, although this is not a universal practice. If the meetings include a meal, the members provide food and drink in turn, and the meetings are held in the house of the host.

The esusu is a credit institution. All members except the ones who receive or share the very last fund of a given cycle receive an advance on their contributions, although the amount advanced declines as the cycle progresses. An attempt is made, further- more, to make the fund available to members of the group at times when they have need for it. When an individual requires outside financial assistance, he may apply for the esusu fund rather than borrow money from a relative or friend without interest, paying interest in money or cocoa to a regular money- lender, "pawning " his cocoa trees or, before it was prohibited by law, "pawning" himself or his children. Because of the large amounts of money required at irregular and often unpredictable intervals, because of the limited opportunities for investment and saving, and because of the excessive interest rates

charged by money-lenders, the esusu has played an important role in the Yoruba economy, which shows no signs of declining under the present conditions of increasing European influence.

A final point remains to be considered, the possi- bility that the esusu itself may be the result of European influence. Aside from the fact that it has rarely been reported among neighbouring African peoples there is little to support this point of view. Even this fact, actually, is no evidence of European origin, since the other West African peoples have also been effected by acculturation to greater or lesser degrees. Furthermore, there is no European institu- tion, particularly among those recorded among the Europeans on the West Coast of Africa, which is strictly comparable or which suggests itself as a model from which the esusu might have been derived. The Yoruba themselves say that the esusu is an ancient institution, and that before British pounds, shillings and pence were introduced it was carried on in Ife in cowries, but never in consumption com- modities. It has been discouraged, if anything, rather than encouraged, by the government, but it is still a very widespread and firmly established institu- tion at the present time. Finally, the fact that it has been recorded in Trinidad establishes that it was part of Yoruba culture during theperiod of the slave trade.

References

AJIqAFE, A. K. .. .. .. .. 1924 The Laws and Customs of the Yoruba People. London. BASCOM, W. R. . . .. .. 1944 The Sociological Role of the Yoruba Cult Group. Amer. Anthrop. Ass.,

Memoir 63. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY .. .. 1937 Dictionary of the Yoruba Language, 1913 ed. C.M.S. Bookshop, Lagos. HERSKOVITS, M. J. and F. S. .. .. 1947 Trinidad Village. New York. JOHNSON, S. .. .. .. .. 1921- The History of the Yorubas. London. NADEL, S. F. .. .. .. .. 1942 A Black Byzantium. London.

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