Rachel E. Johnson

‘The Girl About Town’: discussions of modernity and female youth in Drum magazine, 1951–1970

This article examines the trope of the ‘modern miss’ in Drum magazine 1951–1970 as a locus for debate over South African urban modernity. At the centre of Drum’s African urbanity was a debate between a progressive, positively ‘modern’ existence and an attendant fear of moral and social ‘breakdown’ in the apartheid city. The trope of the ‘modern miss’ drew upon both discourses. Drum’s fascination with the ‘modern miss’ reached a peak in the years 1957–1963, during which time she appeared prominently in the magazine as a symbolic pioneer of changing gender and generational relationships. However, this portrayal continued to coexist alongside the image of young women as the victims of moral degeneration. The ‘modern miss’ was increasingly differentiated from adult women within Drum’s pages, which distanced her from the new space won by political activists. By examining constructions of young womanhood, this article points to the gendering of ‘youth’ at the intersection of commercial print culture and shifting social relations in mid‐twentieth‐century South Africa. It is also suggested that understanding the social configurations of Drum’s modernity illuminates the gendered and generational responses of formal political movements as they conducted their own concurrent debates.

Haunted by the Somatic Norm: South African Parliamentary Debates on Abortion in 1975 and 1996

This article uses the concept of an institutional somatic or bodily norm alongside the notion of haunting to suggest a new way of thinking about processes of institutional change. The article asks, is it an overwhelming presence of men that creates and maintains an institution as masculine? This question is explored in relation to the South African Parliament, an institution that was transformed in 1994 by democratic elections that altered its purpose and personnel dramatically. South Africa was praised internationally for the increase in the number of women MPs that accompanied its transition to democracy, and this praise was framed in ways that suggested that these women could break down the historical domination of state institutions by men and foster a more inclusive democracy. In this article I reexamine this putative transformation through an analysis of two debates, both on the subject of abortion legislation, that took place in the South African Parliament in 1975 and 1996. Members of Parliament participate in debate not only through making speeches but also through interjecting, interrupting, jeering, clapping, laughing, and using humor, all of which are considered here as rituals of representation. The analysis of the two debates draws links between the ritualized forms of parliamentary debate and the constitution of an institutional somatic norm. I thereby show that the ghostly presence of the somatic norm, bound up with the rituals of behavior in parliaments, can linger long after the men who first constituted it have departed.

The Emergence and Impact of First Female Speakers in the UK, South Africa and India

Women are continuing to make in-roads into male-dominated political institutions around the world (Krook, 2009). The now substantial scholarly literature which examines these dynamics and patterns has come to be known collectively as research on the ‘feminisation of polities’. This term is used to describe and assess the extent to which women have both entered and altered historically male-dominated political institutions (Lovenduski, 2005; Wangnerud, 2009). Much of the literature has focused on political parties (Lovenduski, 2005: 57). This chapter makes a unique contribution to feminisation scholarship by paying attention to the neglected issue of the gendered distribution of parliamentary offices, specifically the Speakership. Through a cross-national comparison of the first female Speakers in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa, we shift the focus away from what happens before and during elections to what happens immediately after. The chapter complements the growing literature on female ministerial and bureaucratic leadership with much-needed research on female legislative leadership. It builds on cross-national research that explores the challenges and opportunities facing women in elected office and analyses how windows of opportunity arise and are exploited by non-traditional political actors (cf. Kittilson, 2006). It adds to our understandings of the dynamics of female political leadership (cf. Norris, 2010; Steinberg, 2008).

Pageantry as Politics: The State Opening of Parliaments in South Africa, India and the UK

National parliaments based on the Westminster system are usually ceremonially opened at the start of each annual session. Such ceremonies present a unique and important perspective upon political institutions, revealing the power dynamics that structure political spaces and shape political practices. A specific set of rituals surrounding this event that emerged in the United Kingdom out of the relationship between the monarch and parliament were exported, through the processes of British imperialism, around the world. Today, in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa, a ceremony with the same basic structure is performed annually by the three national parliaments. The ceremonies involve the head of state journeying from their official residence to the parliamentary buildings, a procession on foot into parliament, and a speech read by the head of state detailing the government’s legislative programme for the coming session. These are relatively mundane actions ‘wrapped in a web of symbolism’ (Kertzer, 1988: 9). This ceremony constitutes, using Edward Muir’s phraseology, both a model and mirror. By calmly travelling in hierarchical, ordered processions, public officials ‘model the behaviour expected of them in the conduct of the affairs of state’. By performing the various ‘rituals of rulership’, public officials come to embody their abstract roles, they ‘mirror’ and thus represent someone or something in a public way (Muir, 2005: 5).

Gendering Processes of Institutional Design: Activists at the Negotiating Table

The creation of new institutions can open up opportunities to bring about political change sought by marginalized groups. Feminists may want to seize windows of opportunity to advance a gender justice and equality agenda alongside other reforms. However, the negotiation processes through which new institutions are designed are often male-dominated and lack female and feminist voices. Even when included, women seeking to develop an agenda for transformation may be co-opted or muted by the embedded masculinity and institutional complexity of the sites in which they find themselves. These concerns were raised at a roundtable titled “Gendering Institutional Design Process and Negotiations” that was organized as part of the Gendering New Institutions Workshop held at the University of Manchester on 7–8 November 2013. We asked gender advocates involved in the negotiation processes surrounding the design of three new institutions during the 1990s to reflect upon their experiences. The panel was joined by members of the audience, some of whom had negotiation experiences. The conversation presented here is an edited version of this roundtable discussion. All the panel members are academics who were involved as civil society representatives in formal processes of institutional change, all of which are often seen as success stories of feminist intervention. Sheila Meintjes spoke about her experiences as a member of the Women’s National Coalition involved in the drafting of a new Constitution for post-apartheid South Africa. Following decades of anti-apartheid struggle, formal multi-party negotiations from 1990 onwards resulted in an interim Constitution in 1993, South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994 and the subsequent drafting of a final Constitution by 1996. Alice Brown discussed the design of the new Scottish Parliament accompanying the devolution of powers from Westminster to

Disrupting the South African parliament: performing opposition 1994–2010

The article focuses on the most common form of institutionally punished disruption seen in South Africas National Assembly since 1994: orders for individual MPs to withdraw from the chamber. The shifting dynamics of such “set-piece” dramatizations of opposition and their relationship with the established analyses of political opposition in post-apartheid South Africa, especially “dominant party democracy” theory are explored. There have been two main styles of disruptive performance in the National Assembly since 1994. Firstly, performances of perceived political marginalization, and secondly, performances that paradoxically lay claim to uphold parliamentary democracy through rule-breaking, which are termed performances of procedure-as-democracy. The article examines how opposition politicians have justified disruption and unpicks the symbolism of prominent incidents. The focus is upon the performance of disruption and its performative aspects, particular the articulation of race and gender. It is argued that performances of procedure-as-democracy are actually one of the principal means by which opposition political parties perform narratives of ANC dominance and as such require much more attention and critical engagement from political scholars interested in dominant party democracy.

A conversation: Researching gendered ceremony and ritual in parliaments

In June 2009, John Bercow presided over the British House of Commons in his first session as Speaker. For the British press, there was not a great deal to be said about the performance of his duties aside from his decision to wear a business suit, tie and plain black academic gown. In doing so, Bercow eschewed the ‘traditional’ court dress of his predecessors, not wearing tights or a wig. In fact, his immediate predecessor, Michael Martin, had not worn tights either, and Betty Boothroyd abandoned the wig in 1992. So it was Bernard ‘Jack’ Weatherill, Speaker between 1983 and 1992, who last wore full court dress. The Times turned to the family tailoring business, Bernard Weatherill of Savile Row, for a reaction to Bercow’s sartorial decision in 2009. The managing director commented that, ‘were ‘‘Jack’’ Weatherill still alive, he would say that it is at your peril if you underestimate the dress of office’. He suggested that Bercow should have continued to uphold the ‘better traditions of parliament’ (Malvern, 2009). What might such seemingly trivial debates over dress tell us about the serious business of parliamentary democracy? What constructions of gender, class or race might be encoded in such performances? What does wig-wearing do to the wearer or mean to his or her audience? The Leverhulme Trust-funded research programme, Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliaments (GCRP), aims to answer such questions and highlight the seriousness of the symbolic in politics. The programme examines how struggles

Women as a sign of the new? Appointments to the South African Constitutional Court since 1994.

The aim of the article is to develop our understanding of the role bodies play in processes of institutional change. It does so through developing an approach to the politics of institutional newness that highlights the way in which raced and gendered bodies can become entangled with claims to, or judgements of, “being new.” These questions are explored through South Africas Constitutional Court, newly established as part of South Africas transition to democracy in the 1990s and at the center of the broader claims being made about the creation of a new democratic, nonracial, and non-sexist South Africa. Focusing on judicial appointments to the Constitutional Court since 1994, the article draws attention to the ways in which historically excluded bodies, women and black men, have been included into this new space within the judiciary. It is argued that exploring the ways in which institutions lay claim to “being new” through the bodies of historically excluded groups is important for our understanding of the dynamics of institutional change being constituted.

Introducing Democracy in Practice: Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament

Introducing Democracy in Practice: Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament Rachel E. Johnson and Shirin M. Rai PART I: PERFORMING REPRESENTATION 1. Representing Democracy: Ceremony and Ritual in the Indian Parliament Shirin M. Rai 2. Westminster Parliamentarians: Performing Politics Emma Crewe 3. Negotiating Gendered Institutions: Womens Parliamentary Friendships Sarah Childs 4. The Emergence and Impact of First Female Speakers Faith Armitage, Rachel E. Johnson and Carole Spary PART II: DELIBERATION AND DISRUPTION 5. Proceduralising the Plenary as a Public Sphere Victoria Hasson 6. Prime Ministers Questions as Political Ritual Joni Lovenduski 7. The Indian Parliament: Performing Decline Since the 1960s Bairavee Balasubramaniam 8. Disrupting Deliberation? Comparing Repertoires of Parliamentary Representation Carole Spary, Faith Armitage and Rachel E. Johnson PART III: SYMBOLIC SPACES 9. Space and Symbols: Transforming Parliamentary Buildings Georgina Waylen 10. The Archi-texture of Parliament Nirmal Puwar 11. Pageantry as Politics: The Opening of Parliaments Rachel E. Johnson, Faith Armitage and Carole Spary

Disrupting Deliberation? Comparing Repertoires of Parliamentary Representation in India, the UK and South Africa

In this chapter, we explore the phenomenon of disruptive behaviour by Members of Parliament (MPs) during parliamentary debates. We comparatively examine disruptive performances by MPs in their institutional contexts to understand the relationship between parliament and elected representatives and the performance of deliberation and representation. We focus on the three selected cases of India, South Africa and the United Kingdom, all of which have witnessed disruptive behaviour in their national parliaments but with varying form, frequency, severity and institutional response and with varied meaning and significance attributed.1