Who do we think we are?

Who is unquestionably European? From Brexit to the war in Ukraine, this question has come to the fore as people of colour have found themselves disproportionately questioned as they try to exercise their rights as European citizens. We're joined by Bolaji Balogun (University of Sheffield) and Marius Turda (Oxford Brookes) to discuss the longer history of migration between Europe the UK, how this h...

In July 2022 the news broke that Sir Mo Farah, four times Olympian for Team GB, had been trafficked to the UK as a child. The headlines enhanced public understandings of trafficking. They brought into the frame the children forced into domestic servitude and the circumstances which mean that their situations may not come to light. Hosts Ala Sirriyeh and Michaela Benson are joined by Dr Hannah Lewi...

Who do we think we are? In the early 2000s, with the beginning of the New Labour government, journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown asked this question, calling for a radical reimagining of who was considered as British and outlining her hopes for a new Britain. In this special episode, she joins Michaela Benson in conversation to consider why 20 years later we're still asking the same question. She draw...

For many people, migration is about escaping persecution and state violence. But in the context increasingly criminalisation of migration, state violence may characterise the lives of immigrants. Hosts Ala Sirriyeh and Michaela Benson are joined by Professor Cecilia Menjívar to discuss her work with Central American migrants in the US. She highlights how those taking part in her empirical research...

As people find themselves queueing up at border controls in EU member states, as their passports are stamped, there have been questions about why these things are happening. It's all because of Brexit, and more specifically, the end of free movement between the UK and EU which means that British citizens are no longer EU citizens. But what do you know about EU citizenship is and isn't? In this epi...

With a new UK cabinet comes a new Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP former Attorney General. While there has been a lot of focus on her politics, what does this mean for the Home Office and in particular its approach to immigration? Hosts Ala Sirriyeh and Michaela Benson are joined by Colin Yeo, Barrister at Garden Court Chambers and editor of the Free Movement blog, to talk about all this and c...

You start a relationship with someone living abroad. As the relationship gets serious, you decide to take the next steps and live together. But there's a border in the way. We're joined by Ala Sirriyeh , senior lecturer in sociology at Lancaster University to talk about how borders disrupt and remake families, why as a British citizen your non-British family members are not exempt from immigration...

Over the past few years, international media has been full of reports of protest among them the global Black Lives matter protests, the uprisings in Hong Kong, and Extinction Rebellion. Beyond these social movements, we have seen community action aimed at resisting immigration raids and standing up for trans- and migrant rights among others. These acts of resistance and protest reveal another side...

In June 2022, the headlines in the UK were full of news about the Rwanda plan. As an ECHR ruling halted the first deportation flight scheduled to depart from Rwanda, from the Prince of Wales to the Archbishop of Canterbury it was the high-profile opponents of the scheme to offshore the UK's responsibilities to those seeking asylum that caught the attention of the press. But this public outpouring...

For our first episode swap, we've partnered up with Surviving Society , the antiracist podcast that explores the local and global politics of race and class from a sociological perspective. We're featuring this episode where hosts Chantelle Lewis and Tissot Regis are joined by public historian Aleema Gray to discuss her journey through academia and the initial findings from her PhD project - Bun B...

In May 2012 Home Secretary Theresa May vowed to create 'a really hostile environment for illegal migrants', heralding in a set of policies which require landlords, employers, healthcare workers and others to check people's immigration documents, which creates a barrier to accessing work, housing, healthcare, banking and other services. Most of these measures were introduced through the Immigration...

Commonplace understandings of citizenship equate it with equality – at least among those holding the same citizenship. But looking the processes by which national citizenships develop shows that gaining equality for some was achieved at the expense of others, who might never be considered as equal.  How might shifting scale to the global transform how we think about the development of British citi...

Mass shooting in the US have been headlines news over the past month. The pattern? White gunmen opening fire in supermarkets, schools and public spaces, killing and injuring black, brown and hispanic people going about their daily business. Journalists, commentators and politicians have rallied to try and explain these horrific incidents, identifying the role of the 'Great Replacement' theory in m...

What is the UK's Nationality and Borders Act? How does it relate to previous acts concerned with nationality and immigration legislation? What is the back story to some of the central changes that this act introduces? We cover all of this and more in this bumper episode to mark the start of Series 2 of Who do we think we are? Presenter Michaela Benson introduces the Nationality and Borders Act and...

Countries around the world have been quick to crow about the provisions they are putting in place to welcome those displaced by the war in Ukraine. Yet, all might not be what it seems. In this first episode of Beyond the Headlines, hosts Dr Ala Sirriyeh and Professor Michaela Benson are in conversation with Dr Yvonne Su, York University to examine what the headlines announcing a warm welcome to Uk...

What rights to citizenship do those from Britain's 14 remaining overseas territories? What about those who through no fault of their own found themselves displaced and exiled from the territories through which they could claim this right?   In Episode 10, we look indepth at the case of the Chagos Islanders and the consequences of their forced displacement from the British Indian Ocean Territories...

Did you know that until 2014 that some of those born overseas to unmarried British citizen fathers were not eligible for citizenship? Or that even when this was amended, the provisions were not extended to those born in similar circumstances to British Overseas Territories Citizens? How would you feel if you were denied the right to nationality because your parents weren't married when you were bo...

Did you know that British citizenship can be cancelled or removed? And that when the Nationality and Borders Bill passes into legislation the UK Home Secretary will be able to remove citizenship from individuals without giving them prior notice? Certain conditions may accompany this, but the government's past record on citizenship deprivation shows that these powers have disproportionately by exer...

Should the ability to speak English be a precondition for access to rights and belonging in Britain today? What is really tested for in English-language testing for the purposes of migration and naturalisation? How is this connected to the global dominance of English as a 'world language'? And what links this to the increasing hostility experienced by those speaking languages other than English in...

  When National Security Law was imposed in Hong Kong SAR in 2020, the UK government responded by opening up a bespoke visa scheme to facilitate the migration and settlement of Hong Kongers in the UK. Upheld by the UK's Home Office as evidence of the UK's 'fair and generous' approach to immigration, on the surface it seems like an exception to the Hostile Environment. But what if all was not as it...

What do you know about the UK's citizenship test? What do you think it tests for and how? What do you think it can tell us about the shape Britishness today? In this episode, we look in-depth at the developing UK's citizenship testing regime from its introduction in 2002 to its current form. Presenter Michaela Benson explores how in 2002 the then Labour Government introduced the Life in the UK tes...

What do we think citizenship is? When you think of citizenship you probably think of it as progressive, as giving rights to people. But what if it wasn't? In this episode, we look at the darker side of British citizenship where, over time, who has access to the rights of citizens has become increasingly restricted. Host Michaela Benson explores the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA1981) in a littl...

How did changes in the UK's immigrations laws in the 1960s and 1970s set the stage for the Windrush deportation scandal? What can we learn about the racialised politics of belonging and migration in Britain today from looking at the historical transformation of immigration legislation? In this episode, we look at how immigration controls were introduced in ways that explicitly restricted the movem...

Recorded live at the virtual launch event hosted by the Centre for Alternatives to Social and Economic Inequalities , Lancaster University, 21 October 2021, Talking about citizenship in 'Global Britain' brings together Chantelle Lewis ( Surviving Society, University of Oxford) ; podcast host and producer Michaela Benson (Lancaster University) and podcast researcher George Kalivis (Goldsmiths) to t...

Why do changes in Britain's immigration laws matter for making sense of citizenship today? What is the relationship of these changes to Britain's shift from empire to nation-state? In this episode, host Michaela Benson explains how decolonisation and the independence struggles of Britain's former colonies set the stage for citizenship to emerge in Britain. She explores the shift from subjecthood t...