Who do we think we are?

In the time of MAGA, as nightmares rapidly become reality for many living in the USA, it can be hard to keep up with the pace of change. Here, we take stock of the latest news - including the move to cap refugee numbers at a record low, the further rollback of Temporary Protected Status for many vulnerable groups, and Trump's threat to cut funding to New York City under new mayor Zohran Mamdani. W...

What's the link between free speech, bordering, and the 'MAGA' project of Donald Trump and his backers? And how does free speech as enshrined in the US constitution, contrast with what's happening on the ground in the USA? Sociologist Heba Gowayed, author of 'Refuge', Carnegie fellow, and voice against the arrest of students protesting genocide in Palestine, joins us. She tells us what role the ar...

What does it actually mean to be "documented" or "undocumented" as a migrant to the USA? What's the lived reality like of existing somewhere in between the two, including under the category of "temporary protected status", or TPS, created by Congress in 1990 for people from countries deemed too unsafe to return to? UCLA sociologist and leading migration expert Cecilia Menjívar joins us to discuss...

American Dream? Or American nightmare? The targeting of migrants and minoritised populations under President Trump poses a serious challenge to the long-standing idea that if a person comes to the USA and works hard, they will enjoy social mobility and 'success'. Continuing our series on the role of borders and migration in the roll out of the 'MAGA' project of Trump and his backers, we're joined...

When anti-immigration raids intensified in the USA after Trump's return to the presidency, it left many wondering: how could this happen in places like LA, ostensibly a "Sanctuary City"? What, in fact, are sanctuary cities? Launching our new series on the role of borders and migration in the roll out of Donald Trump's MAGA project, Rachel Humphris, author of "Making Sanctuary Cities" joins us to e...

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...

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, an...

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...

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' irregularisa...

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,...

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...

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 o...

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...

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 C...

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 regula ti on and gover n ance of migration since leaving the European Union. Catherine Craven explains what we mean when we talk about Migration Regime s , and show s how this wor...

Understandings of migration are invariably reduced to immigration, framed by the policy agenda of receiving states. But what about the people who leave? And why does it matter that we remember, as French-Algerian sociologist Abdelmalek Sayad stressed, that 'every immigrant is also an emigrant'?    From the role of emigration in the making of the British empire and other European colonial powers to...

This bonus episode features the full length recording of Elspeth Guild, legal scholar and counsel and our guest in Season 3 Episode 2, offering deep insights into the development of the EU's free movement regime, from its early form as a structure supporting the mobility of workers to its current form linked to EU citizenship. She reflects on the conditions that led to its introduction, how it's u...

 We're talking Freedom of Movement, its role in the formation of an EU–wide imagined community, and the experiences of people who have lost their FOM rights due to Brexit. Catherine Craven explains what we mean when we talk about Freedom of Movement within the EU, its institutional underpinnings and social implications. Elspeth Guild, legal scholar and counsel, joins us to talk about the history a...

What 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 conversatio...

Too often, talk about security seems to belong to politicians and psychologists; to discussions about terrorism and defence, individual anxiety and insecurity. But how do sociologists think about it? And why care?   Daria Krivonos – who works on migration, race and class in Central and Eastern Europe – tells Alexis and Rosie why security matters. What's the impact of calling migration a "security...

Here's a little season end bonus, where our presenter, Michaela Benson and podcast researcher, George Kalivis go behind the scenes at Who do we think we are? They reflect on the origins of the series, the role of the podcast in challenging taken for granted understandings of migration and citizenship in the UK today. They unpack what goes into the making of each episode and what they've learned al...

For the final episode of Season 2, we bring you a set of conversations about what Who do we think we are? achieves through dialogues with archival and social science research around migration and citizenship in the UK and beyond. We're joined by former guest, Bolaji Balogun (University of Sheffield) who reflects on what excited him about taking part the podcast and offers tips for future guests. N...

What does the characterisation of those from Europe's east  as migrants by politicians and in some corners of the media make visible about the politics of migration? What is distinctive about the ways in which they are migratised and racialised? And what does this offer to understandings of racism and racialisation? We're joined by Aleks Lewicki (University of Sussex) to discuss how critical race...

There is nothing politically neutral about classifying and categorising people as migrants. This is a process through which certain individuals and populations are defined as migrants, whether they have crossed borders or not. It has political consequences and impacts for those who find themselves labelled as such. In this episode we turn to this always-political question to consider what this mea...

All eyes have been on Qatar because of the World Cup. And with it, attention to the poor working conditions and treatment of migrant construction workers. We go beyond the headlines with İdil Akıncı-Pérez (University of Edinburgh) to explore the back story to these issues. We look in depth at how the Gulf States approach migration and citizenship, from the Kafala sponsorship system to restrictions...