protecting the family, from levirate to family takaful: historical perspective, contemporary...
DESCRIPTION
This paper aims at a broad review of human institutions designed to protect the widows and family against the death of the breadwinner. Several institutional setups were used in the history of humanity: levirate, mahr, dowry, dower, ghilds and brotherhoods, offices or charges, annuities (especially survivorship annuities and widow’s pension), life insurance and family takaful, social security networks… Some social scientists already focussed on part of the story, and their works became classics, such as Jack Goody’s Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain, which studied dowry in agricultural societies, or Viviana Zelizer’s Moral and Markets, which described the beginning of life insurance in the US. By looking at the big picture, one can name the common factors of family protecting institutions, look for existing trends, and point out the distinctive features of family takaful.TRANSCRIPT
!! CAUTION !! conference relocated to a new venue
Core seminar
Wednesday 8th January 2014, 9 am Paris time / 11 am Jeddah time
Pierre-Charles Pradier Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
will present his paper on
Protecting the family, from levirate to family takaful:
Historical perspective, contemporary significance
Venue : Maison des Sciences Economiques, 106-112, Boulevard de l’Hôpital,
6th floor (conference room) please confirm: [email protected]
Abstract: People in Europe ordinary know takaful as an Islamic alternative to insurance, more precisely, family takaful can be introduced as the Islamic version of life insurance, hence it should feature prohibition of riba, gharar and maysir as well as investment in haram assets. The paper argues that family-supporting insurance is not just a financial asset, hence a purely financial definition of it fails to catch the social project behind it. With a broad review of human institutions designed to protect the widows and family against the death of the breadwinner (from levirate, mahr, dowry, dower, voluntary associations, offices or charges, annuities and life insurance to family takaful and social security networks), the paper attempts to characterize the type of society implied by family takaful. Drawing on Viviana Zelizer’s Moral and Markets, the authors tries to assess the potential of family takaful not only in terms of market potential, but also of its value-shaping potential.
!! CAUTION !!
conference relocated to a new venue