Emma Crewe is a Research Professor at SOAS and a Faculty Supervisor at the University of Hertfordshire. An anthropologist by training, she has worked as an academic, policy adviser, CEO and trustee/chair with international NGOs, universities and grant-makers. She is the Director of the Global Research Network on Parliaments and People, giving grants to scholars and artists in Myanmar and Ethiopia. She is currently co-ordinating a global comparative ethnographic study of six parliaments (funded by European Research Council).
This article explores then political work of Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliamen... more This article explores then political work of Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament and constituencies, conveying the diversity and dynamism of their political performances. To deal with the contradictory and conflicting demands of their different roles, MPs have three processes within which they find some continuities: riffs, rhythms and rituals. They do extraordinary work in ordinary human ways.
The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an el... more The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an elected representative acts as a bridge between a parliament and a locality, while members of the parliament as a collective mediate between the center and the whole of that nation. This chapter explains why a methodological approach that relies on collaborative ethnography and multidisciplinary theorizing is a powerful way to probe the performances, identities, and emotions underlying the work of elected politicians. Taking a relational and performative approach, the chapter considers how these relationships in politics are not merely about interests, roles, or viewpoints; politicians have the power of evocation and so are important to people’s imagination and feeling of belonging. Politicians who ignore the sacred—the ritual, symbolism, and drama of politics—and merely try to impress voters with their ideological standpoints, will find it harder to secure support
Auditing firms tend to promote rule-bound orthodoxies about management based on the fiction that ... more Auditing firms tend to promote rule-bound orthodoxies about management based on the fiction that the world is more predictable than it is. Managers in INGOs find that long-term planning requires endless readjustment. This article explores what happens when these conflicting knowledge regimes clash during auditing. It draws on Bourdieu’s ideas to illuminate how different forms of social capital come into play in conflicting versions of management and control, whether centralised and prereflected or distributed and adaptive. In this case, a conflict during audit was resolved through negotiation and the establishment of alliances, showing how being audited requires complex political skills.
The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an el... more The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an elected representative acts as a bridge between a parliament and a locality, while members of the parliament as a collective mediate between the center and the whole of that nation. This chapter explains why a methodological approach that relies on collaborative ethnography and multidisciplinary theorizing is a powerful way to probe the performances, identities, and emotions underlying the work of elected politicians. Taking a relational and performative approach, the chapter considers how these relationships in politics are not merely about interests, roles, or viewpoints; politicians have the power of evocation and so are important to people’s imagination and feeling of belonging. Politicians who ignore the sacred—the ritual, symbolism, and drama of politics—and merely try to impress voters with their ideological standpoints, will find it harder to secure support.
Genre, nouvelle division internationale du travail et migrations, 2005
« Il n’y a pas de progrès possible si on reste sur place » Les histoires qui suivent ont été coll... more « Il n’y a pas de progrès possible si on reste sur place » Les histoires qui suivent ont été collectées dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche entrepris en réaction à certains résultats surprenants ressortis d’une recherche précédente d’Uma Kothari en Inde en 1986-1988. Bien que prospères, des ménages agricoles comptaient parmi leurs parents des émigrés partis soit au Royaume-Uni soit en Afrique de l’Est, et ceux qui étaient restés en Inde avaient déposé des demandes de visas et attendaient d..
This article contributes to scholarship on the political nature of feminists’ work in internation... more This article contributes to scholarship on the political nature of feminists’ work in international development NGOs. The case study of Oxfam GB (OGB) is contemporary history, based on compiling a brief history of gender justice work between 1986 and 2014 and 18 months of part-time participant-observation fieldwork during 2014–15. I describe funding pressures and imperatives, contestations of meaning and power struggles within OGB and argue that gender justice becomes entangled in both internal and the external politics of international development. This is part of a wider research programme about how ideas on gender equality norms travel between and around development organizations, so I finally draw conclusions about how norms are contested and embodied. The shapeshifting political nature of feminist work challenges prevailing theories about how norms and ideas travel and take hold within organizations.
This article explores then political work of Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliamen... more This article explores then political work of Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament and constituencies, conveying the diversity and dynamism of their political performances. To deal with the contradictory and conflicting demands of their different roles, MPs have three processes within which they find some continuities: riffs, rhythms and rituals. They do extraordinary work in ordinary human ways.
The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an el... more The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an elected representative acts as a bridge between a parliament and a locality, while members of the parliament as a collective mediate between the center and the whole of that nation. This chapter explains why a methodological approach that relies on collaborative ethnography and multidisciplinary theorizing is a powerful way to probe the performances, identities, and emotions underlying the work of elected politicians. Taking a relational and performative approach, the chapter considers how these relationships in politics are not merely about interests, roles, or viewpoints; politicians have the power of evocation and so are important to people’s imagination and feeling of belonging. Politicians who ignore the sacred—the ritual, symbolism, and drama of politics—and merely try to impress voters with their ideological standpoints, will find it harder to secure support
Auditing firms tend to promote rule-bound orthodoxies about management based on the fiction that ... more Auditing firms tend to promote rule-bound orthodoxies about management based on the fiction that the world is more predictable than it is. Managers in INGOs find that long-term planning requires endless readjustment. This article explores what happens when these conflicting knowledge regimes clash during auditing. It draws on Bourdieu’s ideas to illuminate how different forms of social capital come into play in conflicting versions of management and control, whether centralised and prereflected or distributed and adaptive. In this case, a conflict during audit was resolved through negotiation and the establishment of alliances, showing how being audited requires complex political skills.
The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an el... more The representation of a constituency is at the heart of most democracies. In many countries an elected representative acts as a bridge between a parliament and a locality, while members of the parliament as a collective mediate between the center and the whole of that nation. This chapter explains why a methodological approach that relies on collaborative ethnography and multidisciplinary theorizing is a powerful way to probe the performances, identities, and emotions underlying the work of elected politicians. Taking a relational and performative approach, the chapter considers how these relationships in politics are not merely about interests, roles, or viewpoints; politicians have the power of evocation and so are important to people’s imagination and feeling of belonging. Politicians who ignore the sacred—the ritual, symbolism, and drama of politics—and merely try to impress voters with their ideological standpoints, will find it harder to secure support.
Genre, nouvelle division internationale du travail et migrations, 2005
« Il n’y a pas de progrès possible si on reste sur place » Les histoires qui suivent ont été coll... more « Il n’y a pas de progrès possible si on reste sur place » Les histoires qui suivent ont été collectées dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche entrepris en réaction à certains résultats surprenants ressortis d’une recherche précédente d’Uma Kothari en Inde en 1986-1988. Bien que prospères, des ménages agricoles comptaient parmi leurs parents des émigrés partis soit au Royaume-Uni soit en Afrique de l’Est, et ceux qui étaient restés en Inde avaient déposé des demandes de visas et attendaient d..
This article contributes to scholarship on the political nature of feminists’ work in internation... more This article contributes to scholarship on the political nature of feminists’ work in international development NGOs. The case study of Oxfam GB (OGB) is contemporary history, based on compiling a brief history of gender justice work between 1986 and 2014 and 18 months of part-time participant-observation fieldwork during 2014–15. I describe funding pressures and imperatives, contestations of meaning and power struggles within OGB and argue that gender justice becomes entangled in both internal and the external politics of international development. This is part of a wider research programme about how ideas on gender equality norms travel between and around development organizations, so I finally draw conclusions about how norms are contested and embodied. The shapeshifting political nature of feminist work challenges prevailing theories about how norms and ideas travel and take hold within organizations.
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