THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF PARLIAMENTS The Anthropology of Parliaments offers a fresh, comparative approach to analysing parliaments and democratic politics, drawing together rare ethnographic work by anthropologists and politics scholars from around the world. Crewe’s insights deepen our understanding of the complexity of political institu- tions. She reveals how elected politicians navigate relationships by forging alliances and thwarting opponents; how parliamentary buildings are constructed as sites of work, debate and the nation in miniature; and how politicians and officials engage with hierarchies, continuity and change. This book also proposes how to study parliaments through an anthropological lens while in conversation with other disciplines. The dive into ethnographies from across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Region demolishes hackneyed geo-political categories and culminates in a new comparative theory about the contradictions in everyday political work. This important book will be of interest to anyone studying parliaments but especially those in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology; politics, legal and development studies; and international relations. Emma Crewe is Professor of Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, UK. ‘With characteristic wit and imagination, Emma Crewe casts her anthropological eye across the spectrum of parliamentary politics. This book is the product of those enquiries – it is sparklingly fresh, insightful, and as ever with this author, more inter- ested in illumination than condemnation.’ Jonathan Spencer, University of Edinburgh, UK. ‘This is a pioneering anthropological exploration of parliaments from the UK to East Africa and South Asia, through a rigorous, imaginative and productive crossing of dis- ciplinary boundaries. Emma Crewe’s study of the sociality of parliaments – elections, representation and scrutiny – is complemented by a fascinating account of the culture of parliaments – their rhythms, riffs and rituals – both drawing on a formidable volume of primary research, from the constituency level to every imaginable aspect of parlia- mentary practice.’ Niraja Gopal Jayal, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF PARLIAMENTS Entanglements in Democratic Politics Emma Crewe First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Emma Crewe The right of Emma Crewe to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial- No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Crewe, Emma, 1962- author. Title: The anthropology of parliaments : entanglements in democratic politics / Emma Crewe. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020054562 | ISBN 9781350089600 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350089594 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003084488 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Legislative bodies. | Parliamentary practice. | Democracy.| Comparative government. Classification: LCC JF511 .C74 2021 | DDC 328.3--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054562 ISBN: 978-1-350-08960-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-350-08959-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-08448-8 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003084488 Typeset in Bembo by Taylor & Francis Books To my brother Pg and sister Bel CONTENTS Acknowledgements x 1 Introducing parliaments and anthropology 1 A map of this book 3 Parliaments and legislatures 6 What is anthropology? 9 My own entry into parliaments 16 PART I The sociality of parliaments 25 2 The alchemy of voting 30 Elections: socially, historically and technologically embedded 31 Vernacular election games in the UK 34 Quiet rebellions: voting shifts as an indicator of social change 44 Fetishising the vote 49 3 Representing 55 What is political representation? 55 Feminist theories of under-representation 59 The anthropology of representing and ignoring 65 viii Contents In UK constituencies: the collective MP 69 Resonance and alienation 74 4 Scrutiny of the state 80 Anthropologists on the shape of the state 83 Reading the runes: making law in the UK 86 Crocodiles and snakes 91 Critique as scrutiny 97 Scrutiny as part of shapeshifting work 100 PART II The cultures of parliaments 103 5 Rhythms of performance 107 Agendas and diaries of time and space 110 The emotional gestures of minds and bodies 116 Breaking rhythms: moving on or staying put 127 6Riffs of meaning 131 Ideology and knowledge 132 Rhetoric: communicating riffs of meaning 139 Networked advocacy 145 7 Rituals and symbols in politics 154 Ritualised decision-making 157 Ceremonies of state 165 Rituals, solidarity and violence 169 PART III Politics with the dial turned up 173 8 A sense of proportion 175 Everyday political work: walking between friends and foes 175 Disentangling power 181 The democracy dials 187 Contents ix 9 Improvising together 194 Researching as learning and (in the fullness of time) advocacy 195 Entangled, reflexive anthropology: how and why? 201 What we don’t know 206 References 211 Index 222 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this book I have incurred even more debts of gratitude than usual. My thanks to various research funders: of my study on the House of Lords (Economic and Social Research Council, 1998–2001, R000237788), on the House of Com- mons (Leverhulme Trust, 2011–13, RF-2011-261-00004), of research with my colleagues in Bangladesh and Ethiopia (Economic and Social Research Council, 2014–17, ES/L005409/1), supporting artists and scholars in Ethiopia and Myanmar to study parliaments (Arts and Humanities Research Council and Global Chal- lenges Research Fund 2017–21, AH/R005435/1), and generously covering the time it took to write this book and the cost of making it open access (European Research Council, 2019–24, 834986). I have lent heavily on my colleagues in the Global Research Network on Parlia- ments and People – especially Richard Axelby, Jastinder Kaur and Bethel Worku-Dix in SOAS; they have given me ideas, encouragement and comments from beginning to end. I also appreciate hugely the comments from other colleagues in SOAS – David Mosse and Amir Massoumian; colleagues on my ERC-funded ethnographies of par- liaments project – Cristiane Brum Bernardes and Mitiku Gabrehiwot Tesfaye; as well as João Mineiro, Julian Spencer-Churchill and David Beamish (former Clerk of the Parliaments). Other GRNPP Fellows Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Shirin Rai and Niraja Gopal Jayal were a huge inspiration. I thank all the politicians who gave me their time and stories, most recently Steve Hogg (my own ward district councillor) and Hilary Burn (Chair of the Parish Councils Airport Association), as well as fellow activist John Adams (Stop Bristol Airport Expansion) for doing politics with me and then checking the text. All protagonists in my narratives have checked that they are anonymised or, if named, that they recognise themselves and the events in the account. Theo Walker’s drawings are brilliant and he is a pleasure to work with. Thanks to Routledge, and especially Katherine Ong and Amy Doffegnies, for guiding, editing and publishing this book. Acknowledgements xi My family, and especially my husband Nicholas, daughters Cleo and Scarlett, and step-son Joe, give me far more patience and advice than I deserve. I thank my mother, Sally, for teaching me to be curious and my father, Colin for provoking me into doing politics. I dedicate this book to my brother and sister, Pg and Bel Crewe, who initiated me into the art of collaboration. After all, politics begins in the family. 1 INTRODUCING PARLIAMENTS AND ANTHROPOLOGY In the state opening of the 1908 Ottoman Parliament in Istanbul, seen on the cover of this book, the representatives are uniformly male, formal, and clothed in black. Globally our political institutions remain blighted by male dominance. But if you consider the various constituencies these politicians represent, you might also see this as a vast and diverse empire on show. In contrast to European colonial nations, it is claimed that all Ottoman subjects were citizens with the same political rights and were represented in the Parliament (Türesay 2013). These Ottoman Members of Parliament discussed Westminster in a debate during the following year, and were disinclined to emulate it: ABDÜLAZIZ MECDI EFENDI (KARESI): Do the parliamentary system and equality reign supreme in England? KOZMIDI EFENDI (ISTANBUL): I’m not referring to England here. I am an Ottoman, was born an Ottoman, and was brought up an Ottoman. Anything else simply doesn’t concern me. ABDÜLAZIZ MECDI EFENDI (KARESI): The parliamentary system in England is 225 years old. And there’s not a single Indian member of Parliament. KOZMIDI EFENDI (ISTANBUL): You don’t seem to understand England very well. India is a colony. (ibid) A few years earlier the Westminster Parliament had had a solitary Indian MP, Dadabhai Naoroji, the Honourable