Carole Spary
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Contact
Biography
Dr Carole Spary joined Nottingham as an Assistant Professor in September 2014, and became Associate Professor in August 2019. Prior to this she was Lecturer in Politics at the University of York (2011-2014) and Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Warwick (2008-2011). She has an MSc in Social Science Research Methods and PhD in Politics both from the University of Bristol, and a PGCAP from the University of Warwick.
Expertise Summary
Dr Spary's research and teaching focuses on aspects of democratic politics and development, particularly gender, development, political representation and political institutions, and specialises in politics and policy in India. She is currently the Director of the University of Nottingham's Asia Research Institute. She is the former convenor (2008-2016) of the Politics of South Asia Specialist Group of the UK's Political Studies Association.
Teaching Summary
Dr Spary convenes the MA module Global Asia, and co-convenes the advanced level undergraduate and postgraduate modules Gender and Political Representation with Dr William Daniel. She also contributes… read more
Research Summary
1. Gender, Development, and the State in India
This monograph, published by Routledge, critically evaluates the discursive and institutional changes relating to gender and development policy since the 1990s. In particular it considers the extent to which the concept of 'gender mainstreaming' has been adopted in India, and if so, how. Informed by global shifts in gender and development policy, it explores developments at national and sub-national levels to understand important factors influencing policy production, and the opportunities and challenges posed by multi-level governance in the context of India's federal system. By focusing on sub-national development policies and programs for women, it combines two wider concerns in contemporary comparative research: i) a focus on multi-level governance in development, in particular, changing centre-state relations in India in relation to development policy and divergent development policy approaches and outcomes among states, and ii) a focus on multi-level governance in relation to state feminism, which highlights how the state is a heterogeneous, internally differentiated collection of institutions, offering complex opportunities and consequences for women's movements engaging with the state. It is based on Dr Spary's ESRC-funded doctoral research.
As follow-on research related to this monograph, I am developing further research on the topic of gender and federalism in India (and in comparative context).
2. Performing representation: women parliamentarians and political participation in India
This British Academy Small Grant funded research project explores women's participation as elected representatives in the national parliament of India. It seeks to understand the institutional dynamics affecting the participation of women MPs as a minority group and the representation of gender in parliament. The analysis focuses on selected debates and parliamentary committees, including the Committee for the Empowerment of Women. It combines performance-oriented and institutionalist approaches to the study of political representation and parliaments.
This research forms part of a co-authored book with Professor Shirin M. Rai, Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament, (Oxford University Press, 2019).
I am also continuing with further research on women's political participation in India, especially for the 2019 general elections, as well as party nominations practices, renomination of women, and incumbency, and women in party political and parliamentary leadership positions in India.
Reviews of Performing Representation:
- Professor Rajeshwari Deshpande, Savitribai Phule Pune University (Pune, India), 'Women and the roughhouse of politics', The Book Review, 2019.
- Dr Mujibur Rehman, Jamia Milia University (Delhi, India), Review, Hindustan Times, 17 May 2019
- Dr Swarna Rajagopalan, Founder-Director of Prajnya Trust, Chennai, 'The Impossibly High Bar for Women in Politics', April 2019
Recent media outputs:
Selected Publications
PhD supervision
I am interested in supervising students who want to work in the following areas.
- Gender, public policy, and state institutions
- Gender and political representation/participation
- Feminist politics of development/gender and political economy
- Democratic politics and political economy of development in India and South Asia more widely
I have supervised PhD students to completion on topics such as feminist analysis of international policy discourses on gender, development, and women's empowerment, and regional political parties and party organisation in India. I am currently supervising PhD projects on gender and political image-making in post-Soviet politics, and development finance in Bangladesh.
Dr Spary convenes the MA module Global Asia, and co-convenes the advanced level undergraduate and postgraduate modules Gender and Political Representation with Dr William Daniel. She also contributes to a first year undergraduate module, the International Politics of the Asia Pacific. In Autumn 2023-24, she is also convening the final year undergraduate module Politics Placements, and contributing to the first year undergraduate module Introduction to Comparative Politics.
In the past, she has convened the advanced level undergraduate and postgraduate modules on Gender and Development, and contributed to the Making of Modern Asia (based in the Department of History).
She also supervises UG and MA dissertations, and is currently supervising two PhD students:
Ruta Skriptaite: "Political Image-making and Post-Soviet Patriarchal Leadership: A Comparative Analysis of Belarus, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan"
Nawsher Sikder: "Political Economy of Development Finance from the Emerging Donors: A Study on the Development Finance Mobilized to the Infrastructure Projects of Bangladesh"
Past Research
My research expertise and interests fall under two broad themes: (1) gender and the politics of development and (2) gender, democracy, political representation, and electoral politics. I am also interested in feminist institutionalist, feminist poststructural, and intersectional and postcolonial feminist approaches.
1. Gender and the Politics of Development
Project and publications on this theme include:
Gender, Development, and the State in India: This monograph, published by Routledge, critically evaluates the discursive and institutional changes relating to gender and development policy since the 1990s. In particular it considers the extent to which the concept of 'gender mainstreaming' has been adopted in India, and if so, how. Informed by global shifts in gender and development policy, it explores developments at national and sub-national levels to understand important factors influencing policy production, and the opportunities and challenges posed by multi-level governance in the context of India's federal system. By focusing on sub-national development policies and programs for women, it combines two wider concerns in contemporary comparative research: i) a focus on multi-level governance in development, in particular, changing centre-state relations in India in relation to development policy and divergent development policy approaches and outcomes among states, and ii) a focus on multi-level governance in relation to state feminism, which highlights how the state is a heterogeneous, internally differentiated collection of institutions, offering complex opportunities and consequences for women's movements engaging with the state. It is based on my ESRC-funded doctoral research.
Gender, Federalism, and the State in India: as follow-on research related to my Routledge monograph, I developed further research on the topic of gender and federalism in India. Initially inspired by the work of international scholars of gender and federalism, as well as scholars of Indian federalism and gendered state policy in India, I published a book chapter on this topic as part of an international comparative Handbook on Gender, Diversity, and Federalism, edited by Vickers, Grace, and Collier (published by Edward Elgar in 2020).
2. Gender, democracy, political representation, and electoral politics
Performing representation: women parliamentarians and political participation in India
This research theme builds on my Leverhulme postdoctoral fellowship (2008-2011) at Warwick on the Gendered Ceremony and Rituals in Parliament programme under the mentorship of Prof. Shirin Rai, as well as a subsequent British Academy Small Grant funded research project (2013-15). It explored women's participation as elected representatives in the national parliament of India. It sought to understand the institutional dynamics affecting the participation of women MPs as a minority group and the representation of gender in parliament. The analysis focuses on selected debates and parliamentary committees, including the Committee for the Empowerment of Women. It combined performance-oriented and institutionalist approaches to the study of political representation and parliaments.
This research forms part of a co-authored book with Professor Shirin M. Rai, Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament, (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Reviews of Performing Representation:
- Professor Rajeshwari Deshpande, Savitribai Phule Pune University (Pune, India), 'Women and the roughhouse of politics', The Book Review, 2019.
- Dr Mujibur Rehman, Jamia Milia University (Delhi, India), Review, Hindustan Times, 17 May 2019
- Dr Swarna Rajagopalan, Founder-Director of Prajnya Trust, Chennai, 'The Impossibly High Bar for Women in Politics', April 2019
My chapter on 'Gender, Politics, Performance: Embodiment and Representation in Political Institutions' for the Interview in Times of India, May 2019
Gender, elections, political recruitment and candidate selection
I have also researched gendered dynamics of elections, political recruitment, candidate selection and political leadership, with a focus on Indian politics. Publications on this theme include:
- Journal article: Spary, C. 2020. Women candidates, women voters, and the gender politics of India's 2019 parliamentary election Contemporary South Asia. 28(2), 223-241. This featured in a special issue on the 2019 election.
- Journal article: Spary, C., 2014. Women candidates and party nomination trends in India - evidence from the 2009 general election Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. 52(1), 109-138
- Co-authored chapter (with Faith Armitage and Rachel E. Johnson) on The Emergence and Impact of First Female Speakers., in a volume edited by Shirin M. Rai and Rachel E. Johnson, Democracy in Practice: Ceremony and Ritual in Parliaments (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
- Journal article: Spary, C., 2007. Female Political Leadership in India Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. 45(3), 253-277
Media activity on this theme includes:
Other
Previous research on democracy, representation, and political institutions includes research on parliaments, especially India, but also in comparative context.
On the theme of legislative disruption:
- Co-edited special issue of Democratization with Prof. Shirin M. Rai: 'Disruptive Democracy: Analysing Legislative Protest, Democratization, 2013, 20(3) 385-552
- Journal article: 2013. Legislative protest as disruptive democratic practice, Democratization. 20(3), 392-416
- Co-authored article with senior official of Indian parliament (R. Garimella): 2013. Managing disruptions in the Indian parliament Democratization. 20(3), 539-552
- Book chapter co-authored with Faith Armitage and Rachel E. Johnson: 2014. Disrupting Deliberation? Comparing Repertoires of Parliamentary Representation. published in Rai,S.M and Johnson, R.E.(eds.), Democracy in Practice: Ceremony and Ritual in Parliaments Palgrave Macmillan
- Journal article: 2010. Disrupting Rituals of Debate in the Indian Parliament The Journal of Legislative Studies. 16(3), 338-351
Other published research on representation and democratic processes and institutions:
SPARY, CAROLE, 2021. Gender, Politics, Performance: Embodiment and Representation in Political Institutions. In: RAI, SHIRIN M., GLUHOVIC, MILIJA, JESTROVIC, SILVIJA and SAWARD, MICHAEL, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Politics and Performance Oxford University Press. SPARY, C., 2020. Gender, Federalism and the State in India. In: VICKERS, J., GRACE, J. and COLLIER, C.N., eds., Handbook on Gender, Diversity and Federalism Edward Elgar Publishing. 2019. 'Ganatantra Podcast Episode 21: Gendered Parliament - Women, elections and our democracy feat. Dr. Carole Spary' IVM podcasts. Dr Sarayu Natarajan and Alok Prasanna Kumar. Ganatantra Podcast. 06/26/2019 00:00:00
2019. 'India Tomorrow part 4: women, gender and love'. The Conversation. Annabel Bligh and Dr Indrajit Roy. The Conversation/The Anthill Podcast. 04/30/2019 00:00:00
SPARY, C., 2017. [Book Review] The dashing ladies of the Shiv Sena: political matronage in urbanizing India COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS. 55(2), 236-238
SPARY, C. and GARIMELLA, R., 2013. Managing disruptions in the Indian parliament Democratization. 20(3), 539-552 ARMITAGE, F., JOHNSON, R.E., MALLEY, R. and SPARY, C., 2012. A conversation: researching gendered ceremony and ritual in parliaments Feminist Theory. 13(3), 325-336 SPARY, C., 2010. Disrupting Rituals of Debate in the Indian Parliament The Journal of Legislative Studies. 16(3), 338-351 SPARY, C., 2007. Female Political Leadership in India Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. 45(3), 253-277 SPARY, C. and WYATT, A., 2006. The general election in India, May 2004 Electoral Studies. 25(2), 398–404 SPARY, C., 2006. [Book Review] Countering gender violence: initiatives towards collective action in Rajasthan JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES. 15(3), 300-302