9* Women in Political Power, with Manduhai Buyandelger (Rebroadcast, in honor of Elizabeth Warren)

Recall This Book

As we prepare our mini-season on the history of money (Recall This Buck) we dive back into the archives for our very first Rebroadcast. And our first asterisk, too: was that the right symbol to use? The egress of Elizabeth Warren from the race for the Democratic nomination saddened us: after all, we both belong to her broad-based coalition of kindergarten teachers, college teachers and teacher’s pets… It also inspired us to revisit this favorite conversation. Enjoy!

Thatcher and HRC walk into a glass ceiling…In this episode, John and Elizabeth are joined by MIT anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger to discuss women in political power in Argentina, Mongolia, the UK, the United States and beyond. At the conversation’s heart: Manduhai analyzes the legacy of “female quotas” in Soviet-era politics, as well as the narrow “lanes” that women politicians are sorted into.

For starters, Elizabeth discusses Santa Evita, Tomás Eloy Martínez’s riff on what happened to Evita Perón’s body before and after her death, and how much she looked, eventually, like Grace Kelly.

John discusses old-school Marxist journalist Beatrix Campbell, who tells a compelling story about “why Women vote Tory” in her 1987 Iron Ladies; it includes a fascinating chapter on Margaret Thatcher’s mix of “moral authoritarianism and economic liberalism.” John also finds a Thatcherite strain in My Beautiful Laundrette.

Manduhai then unfolds the story of vocal tone-switching female politicians learn to deploy, in Mongolia and elsewhere. John relates that to a recent podcast exposé that criticizes Theranos mastermind Elizabeth Holmes for deepening her voice in college. Manduhai’s own article about how Mongolian female politicians present themselves is a brilliant introduction to how some of these questions play out elsewhere in the world. It includes some great political posters like this one:

Lastly, in Recallable Books, John recommends Hilary Mantel’s “The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher,” Elizabeth recommends the ethnography Iron, Gender and Power by Eugenia Herbert, and Manduhai recommends Clinton’s Hard Choices, and then, for a shorter and less familiar pick, Jack Weatherford’s The Secret History of the Mongol Queens.

Mentioned in this episode:

Santa Evita, Tomás Eloy Martínez

Iron Ladies: Why Do Women Vote Tory?, Beatrix Campbell

My Beautiful Laundrette, dir. Stephen Frears

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, dir. Stephen Frears

Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton

What Happened?, Hillary Clinton

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (can’t believe it took until episode nine for this!)

“The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher,” Hilary Mantel

Iron, Gender, and Power: Rituals of Transformation in African Societies, Eugenia Herbert

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire, Jack Weatherford

You can listen to the episode here:

(episode transcript available here: Episode 9 Buyandelger 3.28.19)

On the horizon: We kick off our Recall This Buck series on Thursday March 19, with Christine Desan on the role that “Making Money” played in the creation of modern capitalism. To be followed in short order by a conversation with Peter (“Augustine of Hippo is his middle name”) Brown about money, wealth and the rise of Christianity in late Antiquity.