00/52 An Introduction

Over the next 52 episodes we’re going to learn the stories of 52 first generation immigrants. Technically there are 53 Commonwealth countries, but the United Kingdom features in the stories of all these individuals, as it’s where they all end up living. In this introduction episode you’ll learn a little more about me, and why … Continue reading 00/52 An Introduction

Over the next 52 episodes we’re going to learn the stories of 52 first generation immigrants.

Technically there are 53 Commonwealth countries, but the United Kingdom features in the stories of all these individuals, as it’s where they all end up living.

In this introduction episode you’ll learn a little more about me, and why I’m interested in the concept of Britishness.

This episode references a 2005 study into what people in the UK define as Britishness, commissioned from ETHNOS Research and Consultancy by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in 2005.

I also reference a speech by Gordon Brown in July 2004 which you can read in entirety here, and a letter written by Amos Olalekau in 1950.

Two books which I highly recommend reading on the topic of Britishness, and which helped me to form this episode are The Battle of Britishness: Migrant Journeys, 1685 to the Present by Tony Kushner and Britishness: Perspectives on the British Question edited by Andrew Gamble and Tony Wright.

You might also be interested in Benedict Anderson’s theories on Imagined Communities.