KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 18, 2023 – How do collective economic forms work in local economies, and how do they work for their participants, more importantly? 

Economics professor Maliha Safri will consider such questions when she presents at the 2023 University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium Tuesday, Sept. 26, on “Community Economies: Organizing for the Common Good.” A professor at Drew University in New Jersey, Safri’s academic research focuses on collective economic practices, including worker, food, and housing cooperatives.

Hosted by URI’s Honors Program, this is the 60th edition of the University’s premier lecture series, and it marks the centennial of the College of Business.

Safri will speak at 7 p.m. at Edwards Hall on the Kingston Campus and online, as part of the University’s fall Honors Colloquium, “Not Business As Usual: Business for the Common Good.” The talk will be presented in person and streamed live (video links are available the day of each event, at the link above).

Safri documents the work of migrant workers, along with majority Black and Latinx communities. She teaches popular education seminars and courses with activists, specifically with migrant workers at worker centers about the process of forming collectives. Safri’s research became informed by the concrete, serious issues faced by participants in what has become known as solidarity economies, economies prioritizing cooperation and inclusion.

She has a forthcoming co-authored manuscript entitled Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism and Mapping Transformation, which examines such economies in Worcester, Philadelphia, and New York City. The project shows how solidarity economies fulfill crucial needs in food, housing, and fair finance, and contest harmful economic forces of exploitation, gentrification, and predation. Safri is a co-editor of the Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds book series and a member of various collective organizations herself. She also co-directs a New York City semester program at the United Nations focused on the impact of nonprofits and social businesses.

The URI Honors Colloquium is free and open to the public. Lectures will be held most Tuesday evenings, Sept. 19 through Dec. 5, and will also be available online. Learn more about the fall colloquium. Register for updates and reminders here or email urihonors@etal.uri.edu.