Performing in the Representative Archive

• In Event: Performing Political Representation

Abstract

The study of representation has undergone many shifts. Whereas early scholarship focussed on what interests are being represented (substantive) and by who (descriptive representation) (Pitkin 1967), the constructivist turn opened research avenues to consider the fluidity of representation. As the category of representative has become more expansive and interests are no longer seen as predefined, there is a need to better understand how the representative relation is constructed in practice. The question at hand is thus, how representation is performed, taking us beyond questioning the who and the what (Goffman 1956; Saward 2020). This paper argues that as representative claims are structured by and structuring society, they take place within what I call a ‘representative archive’. Drawing on postcolonial, memory studies and social representations theory, this representative archive is conceptualised as the structural setting wherein representative claims are performed. Both representative claim-makers and their audiences are embedded within it, and it shapes the availability of performance repertoires for the former and the resonance of representative claims with the latter.
This conceptual argument will be laid out through the case of Assita Kanko, who is a member of the European Parliament for the Flemish nationalistic party N-VA (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, New-Flemish Alliance). The tension between ascribed and claimed identities, in other words between the labels put on her by others and how she identifies herself, is high in her case, as she actively resists the labels ascribed to her as a black, first-generation Belgian woman. The question then arises how this would influence her claim-making, and possibly limit her access to particular repertoires from the representative archive.
Using all her contributions in 2023 to plenary debates in the European Parliament, a claim-analysis is carried out, focussing on the created subject-positions. Through a deductive coding of all claims made, the different ways in which she constructs herself as a representative and her claims are explored. As her ascribed descriptive identity disrupts the somatic norms of the Parliaments (Puwar 2004), her performance of representative claims need to establish her as a valid representative. Her presence, let alone her performances, reveal the boundaries of the political norms, as she accesses repertoires which are not historically reserved for her. This demands a constant validation of her subject-position as a valid representative, through representative claims within the political place and the representative archive that both govern her performances. The deeply embedded nature of all representative claims in the representative archive is laid bare, wherein one’s positionality is crucial to access archival repertoires for successful claims.
Using the concept of the representative archive allows us to situate performances of claim-makers, taking into account the societal constraints and expectations of what constitutes a successful representative claim. Additionally, the concept provides a novel pathway to study performances as moments of interaction and co-construction through and with structures, audiences and claim-makers.

Author

• Hannah Oorts, Vrije Universiteit Brussel