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What migrants think about the monarchy and Eurovision: new MIGZEN podcast launched

Views of migrants in the UK and British citizens living abroad are featured in a new season of the popular podcast 'Who do we think we are?'

12 May 2023
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Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University discuss the often-unheard views of migrants in the UK and British citizens living abroad on the coronation of King Charles III, Eurovision and much more. Such views are featured in a new season of the popular podcast Who do we think we are? Dedicated to ‘Global Britain’.

The series is co-hosted by Michaela Benson, professor of Public Sociology at Lancaster University, and Nando Sigona, professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement at University of Birmingham.

The series foregrounds a timely understanding of Britain’s migration story focussed on the making of ‘Global Britain’. Considering Brexit as a pivotal moment, it explores what the UK’s exit from the European Union has meant for mobile citizens, migrants, migration flows and governance.

In this way, it reveals an ongoing process of redrawing the boundaries of the imagined community and the role of the migration-citizenship regime within this. But it also looks beyond the borders to consider how immigration controls, policies and legislation articulate with the British state’s present-day struggle for legitimacy and leadership on the world stage after Brexit.

Professor Nando Sigona explains the main focus of the season:

What does it mean to be British today? Who is allowed to be part of Britain in the post-Brexit era? Who is excluded? We will explore these questions with people who are more ordinarily absent in these conversations.

Professor Nando Sigona

Drawing on the contributions of those taking part in the ESRC-funded “Rebordering Britain and Britons after Brexit” research, in the first episode of season researchers examine how British citizens living in Europe and EU citizens and other migrants in the UK experience major public events such as the coronation, Commonwealth Games, the Festival of Brexit and even Eurovision.

We explore what the views of these communities about the monarchy, commonwealth and Eurovision makes visible about the symbolic boundaries and borders of the imagined community emerging in the wake of Brexit.

Professor Michaela Benson

In the episode a UK-based Finnish woman explains how her attitudes to public celebrations has changed since Brexit:

‘If the festivities had taken place before Brexit, I may have felt more of a connection to the Jubilee but Brexit has created a rift between me and Britain that didn’t exist before and has highlighted the perception of me as ‘other’ by those in power and many of those living in Britain’.

The first episode of Season 3 of the popular podcast Who do we think we are? which, so far, has attracted thousands of listeners goes live on Friday 5 May.

Follow the podcast on all major podcasting platforms or through our RSS Feed.

Notes to editor

The podcast has been produced as part of the ESRC-funded research project Rebordering Britain and Britons after Brexit (MIGZEN)

Featured staff

  • Professor Nando Sigona

    Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement

    Professor Nando Sigona is a sociologist with research and teaching experience in migration, refugee and ethnic studies. He is also the Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS).

    Phone: +44(0)121 415 8030
    Email: n.sigona@bham.ac.uk

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