Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament
Workshop 1
21st February 2008
Paul Hirst Room, 10 Gower Street, Birkbeck College, University of London
10:30am – 5:00pm
Minutes of Open Agenda
1. Welcome and Introductions
Attendees: Joni Lovenduski - Chair (JL), Shirin Rai (SR), Georgina Waylen (GW),
Sarah Childs (SC), Kala Williams (KW), Bairavee Balasubramanian (BB), Faith
Armitage (FA), Carole Spary (CS), Rosa Malley (RM), Surya Monro (SM), Victoria
Hasson (VH)
A re-ordering of the Agenda was agreed in order to ensure the full participation of
group as follows:
2. Working Online (Blogs/ E-Portfolios/ Website/ Forums)
KW discussed website features available (e-Portfolios, Blogs and the forum). SM and
VH re-iterated the use of the forum as a private workspace for the group and
highlighted the forum as a method to flag up access issues to certain materials. The
challenges of using End Note were also discussed.
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Agreed:

e-Portfolios would be a more useful tool for the researchers and students.

Ongoing security of the website was to be maintained with the group
making use of other electronic communication methods where the website
was not appropriate.

Develop a working papers section on the website as research progressed
with said papers being filtered through KW for publishing to the public.

Expert guidance needed to be sought on how to best work across different
sets of bibliographical data in End Note.
3. Advisory Board and Associates
GW informed the group that Shireen Hassim had agreed to be a member of the
Advisory Board.
Agreed:

Additional programme associates for the programme would be recruited as
intellectual sources.

Details of potential associates be sent through to the KW as soon as
possible.
4. Research Designs and Planning
It was decided that it was important for the Fellows to document the overlapping areas
throughout the three research designs , highlighting any differences in approach. It was
noted that it is important for the research to be narrowed down in focus in order to
ensure thorough and more valuable output as time progressed with due recognition
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given to the differences between the expected outcomes of the Fellows as opposed to
the PhD students.
Agreed:

The Wroxton conference in July is an opportunity for conceptualising and
defining Ceremony and Ritual.

Working papers to be presented at the Wroxton would be delivered firstly at
the GCRP June workshop by the Fellows.

Working papers were to give significant bearing highlighting key content to
generate ideas and solicit interest.

The time line presented in the India design was to be mirrored by the other
teams.
5. Planning of Workshop and Conference
It was confirmed that the second workshop would take place on the 12th of June 2008
at Birkbeck College. Speakers to be invited: Emma Crewe, Meg Russell, Molly
Andrews and Nirmal Puwar.
October 2008 GCRP conference would span 1 ½ days with ½ day allocated to having
an Advisory Board Meeting using the plenary or round table formats for delivery at the
conference.
Agreed:

There would be three events per year throughout the programme with
smaller workshops being held in February and June and a larger conference
in October bearing in mind the expected Leverhulme Trust visit in October
2009 which could take a different format.
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6. Any Other Business (including protocol for communication)

The Protocol for Communication was approved.

Business cards were requested by the researchers and students. KW agreed
to circulate samples and process urgently.

A record keeping and general procedures checklist for the project was
requested for the Programme Leads.

In response to the request for a book grant for the PhD students, KW
informed the group that the budget made no allowances for such
expenditures; additional funding applications were discussed as an option to
meet these costs.
7. Closed Agenda
(Minutes produced separately)
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GCRP WORKSHOP 1 – ACTIONS
ACTION
Names of Programme Associates to
be submitted to KW.
Letters to be sent to agreed
Associates ASAP.
Names of October Conference
panellists to be submitted to
Programme Manager
End Note support to be contacted to
determine challenges presented by
the group with feedback to be given
accordingly.
Central research method document
to be designed and circulated
highlighting overlapping domains,
definitions of ceremony and rituals
and identifying differences in
theoretical approach.
Working Papers Cover Sheet to be
designed
Working papers for the Wroxton
Conference to be presented at the
next workshop in June for
feedback.
Mock up of Business Cards should
be circulated for feedback and
printing.
BY WHOM
DATE FOR COMPLETION
COMMENTS
13.03.08
KW
All Programme Leads
14.03.08
14.03.08
KW
CS, SM, FA
31.03.08
KW
10.06.08
12.06.08
CS, SM, FA
KW
ASAP
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