S3 E11 Labour’s new immigration plan is anything but Brexit
Who do we think we are?
Michaela and Nando get together to discuss the UK’s Labour Government 2025 promise to restore control over immigration by reducing net migration. The resonance with Brexit rhetoric couldn’t be clearer in the language and narrative surrounding this. Yet, Brexit remains the elephant in the room. They reflect on several key elements of the paper: health and social care visas, shifts in qualification levels and income requirements, student visas and e-visas. As their conversation highlights, the new immigration plan embeds further the criminalisation of certain migrants—and seeks new ways...
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S3 E10 Migration and the making of Global Britain
Who do we think we are?
What’s the significance of migration for the making of ‘Global Britain’? And what are the theoretical and conceptual tools that can help to unpack this question? In this episode, we turn our attention to the value of racial capitalism for understanding migration to and from the UK after Brexit. Elena Zambelli explains what we mean when we talk about ‘Global Britain,’ its political trajectory, and the role of coloniality within it. Ida Danewid, Lecturer in Gender and Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex joins us to offer insights into the relationship between racial...
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S3 E9 (Not so) safe routes
Who do we think we are?
What are the UK Government’s ‘safe and legal routes’? How do these relate to ‘stop the boats’, the Rwanda Plan, and the curtailment of asylum as laid out in the 1951 Refugee Convention? What can we learn from listening to the Hong Kongers and Ukrainians beneficiaries of these humanitarian visas? And what if these routes are not so safe after all? In this episode we explore the UK’s safe and legal (humanitarian routes). Elena Zambelli explains what ‘asylum’ is, looking its history, scope and challenges to these international protections since 2015 ‘refugee...
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S3 E8 Fortress Britain?
Who do we think we are?
What’s Brexit got to do with the ‘small boats’ crisis? What does racialised border violence in the Channel tell us about 'Global Britain’? And what can we learn about the UK’s approach to its borders from the Hong Kong BN(O) and Ukrainian visas? We discuss all of this and more as we turn a lens onto Fortress Britain. Elena Zambelli explains what we mean when we talk about migrants’ irregularisation. We’re joined by Arshad Isakjee and Thom Davies talk about their research on the racialised border violence enacted by Fortress Europe and why we need to turn our...
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BtH2 E2 Beyond the headlines … Care Activism with Ethel Tungohan
Who do we think we are?
Migrant laborers worldwide are engaged in care work, but who provides care for them? And where can they seek care? In this discussion with Ethel Tungohan, the author of 'Care Activism', we go beyond the headlines that portray migrant domestic workers as victims or heroes. By focusing on their daily lives and the experiences of migrant care workers, we explore various sites of everyday resistance, ‘dissident friendships’, and the politics of critical hope and care. You can access the full transcripts for each episode on the . In this episode we cover … Migrant care workers in Canada and...
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S3 E7 Families at the borders
Who do we think we are?
What happens when borders cross families? How do families navigate these interruptions to their ability to live together? This episode considers what shifting perspective to families opens up to view in terms of thinking about the work of borders and their impact on people’s everyday lives. Helena Wray, Professor of Migration Law at the University of Exeter, explains the historical development of family migration laws and what these make visible about the racialization of the nation and its political community. Elena Zambelli explains what a ‘mixed-status family’ is, and the many ways...
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BtH2 E1 Beyond the headlines … at Manchester Museum with Senna Yousef and Caitlin Nunn
Who do we think we are?
We’re out and about in this episode! Ala and Michaela have been on the road. And in this episode they visit Manchester Museum and a new project aimed at decolonising the museum collection. They are joined by members of the Ancient History, Contemporary Belonging research project—youth researcher Senna Yousef and Dr Caitlin Nunn from Manchester Metropolitan University—which retells the history of objects held by the Museum through archival research and young people’s experiences of migration. You can access the full transcripts for each episode on the . In this...
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S3 E6 Migrant Rights 2.0
Who do we think we are?
Borders around the world are becoming increasingly digitised. But who does the digitisation of borders serve? How are these technologies related to state-led projects of securitisation and surveillance? And what do digital bordering practices mean for migrants, migrant rights and advocacy? In this episode we lift the lid on digital bordering. We debunk political rhetoric about how these make border control more efficient to consider what the increasing use of such technologies of border control makes visible about bordering as a practice and process around the world today....
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S3 E5 Migration, diaspora, diplomacy
Who do we think we are?
What role do diplomacy and the power play between states play in the development of migration policy? And how can turning our attention to the significance of foreign policy within migration governance help us in understanding the post-Brexit migration regime in the UK? In this jam-packed episode, we consider how foreign policy and geopolitics shapes migration and mobility regimes. Catherine Craven explains what we mean when we talk about migration diplomacy. Fiona Adamson, Professor of International Relations at SOAS, invites us to think about how migration and diaspora feature...
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S3 E4 A New Plan for Migration?
Who do we think we are?
What’s changed in the UK’s approach to migration since Brexit? How has this impacted on migration flows? Who is and isn’t migrating to the UK ? In A New Plan for Migration? we consider the shape and structure of the UK’s regulation and governance of migration since leaving the European Union. Catherine Craven explains what we mean when we talk about Migration Regimes, and shows how this works in practice. Barrister, author and Founder of Colin Yeo, shares his thoughts on what has and hasn’t changed in terms of laws and policies on UK immigration since Brexit. And our presenters...
info_outlineWhat does Eurovision have to do with the Coronation? We’re talking about what we learn about ‘Global Britain’ and its imagined community from looking at how migrants understand major cultural events.
Elena Zambelli explains what social scientists mean when they talk about the imagined community. Laura Clancy, sociologist of the royal family, joins us to talk about the missing voices in conversations about the future of the British monarchy. Co-hosts Nando Sigona and Michaela Benson reflect on what British citizens living abroad, EU citizens and others who have made the UK their homes told them about how they understand Britain and their place within it following Brexit. And consider what hearing from them about the monarchy, the Commonwealth Games and Eurovision makes visible about the new borders of political membership and symbolic boundaries of belonging.
You can access the full transcripts for each episode over on our website Who do we think we are?
In this episode we cover …
1 The imagined community
2 The monarchy and the myth of the British nation
3 Eurovision, the Commonwealth Games and Royal Events
Active listening questions
- What imagined community, or imagined communities, do you feel that you belong to?
- Are there public events during which you do or could celebrate your belonging to this or these communities? Which ones?
- Who do you think is excluded from this imagined community and how? And what does this tell us about the symbolic boundaries of this community?
Find more about …
What EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU think about the monarchy in Elena and Catherine’s article in the Sociological Review Magazine
The concept of imagined community in Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities and the critique offered by Partha Chatterjee’s The Nation and its Fragments
Laura’s sociology of the royal family in her book Running the family firm and the Surviving Society podcast miniseries The Global Power of the British Monarchy
Our podcast picks for this episode are:
Academic Aunties on ‘Harry and Meghan’
The Allusionist on Eurovision
Coversations with IRiS on Political Demography
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