By Michaela Benson From the referendum to the negotiations to leave, Freedom of Movement has featured prominently in Brexit. Popular framings of Britain’s decision to leave the EU aligns...
Category: Long Reads
Check in here to access our long reads, extended commentaries written by members of the project team about all things Brexit and UK citizens living in the EU27, as well as topics of broader concern to these populations.
Long read: let’s ditch the stereotypes about Britons who live in the EU
Our images of Britons living in the rest of the EU are dominated by twin stereotypes: the sun-seeking, patriotic pensioner in Spain and the upper-middle-class English couple renovating a Dordogne property. Karen O’Reilly and Michaela Benson (Goldsmiths University of London) make a plea for the true complexity and diversity of the British diaspora to be recognised, and explain how these stereotypes feed into a wider notion of migrancy as deviant and problematic.
October 8, 2018
British enough for the vote? From ‘True Brits’ to no representation without taxation in the Overseas’ Electors debate
In this long read, Michaela, Chantelle and Katherine reflect on what the debate about the overseas electors bill tells us about how UK citizens living overseas are understood and imagined by parliamentarians.
March 13, 2018
Who is allowed to be British (abroad)?
In this long read blogpost, Chantelle reflects talking Brexit with UK citizens of colour who have made their homes and lives in the EU27, building on her ambition to highlight the diversity of this UK citizen population and revealing how these conversations prompt reflections on what it means to be British and how this intersects with processes of racialisation at home and abroad.
March 1, 2018
Doing the Hokey Cokey: The British abroad mirror the Brexit Divide in all its complexity
In the first of our long read blogs, Karen reflects back on her research with Britons living in Spain, to locate contemporary questions about Britain’s relationship(s) to Europe emerging...
January 31, 2018