EPISODE · Aug 8, 2021 · 53 MIN
Empireland: EURO 2020, Racism and Nostalgia | Sathnam Sanghera
from The Story Isn’t Over: History from the Margins · host Ramblings of a Sikh
In this episode I get to talk to Sathnam Sanghera - author of EmpireLand: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain, memoir The Boy With the TopKnot and a novel, Marriage Material. In addition, Sathanm is a writer for The Times and a presenter for Channel 4. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ ★ Buy this podcast a coffee ★ Below is a rough breakdown of the conversation, as usual, it was an absolute blast. 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Leaving Wembley at the end of the EURO 2020 final 02:40 - Upbringing 04:00 - Parents arriving in the UK in the 1960s 05:38 - What was Wolverhampton like growing up? 07:31 - What led you to write Empireland? 10:38 - What were the reactions to Empireland when it was first published? 12:39 - Football, Priti Patel and racism. 15:38 - What goes into producing something like Empireland? 19:11 - Martial Race Theory 21:45 - "You can't review the history of Empire like it's a bloody kettle on Amazon." 23:05 - Imperial history often being monolithic in nature 25:26 - British Empire and Nazi Germany 29:00 - Dangers of making comparisons between the British Empire and Nazi Germany 30:05 - Anti-semitism within Europe before WWII 30:54 - "Every Empire rests on force, the British were not habitually cruel." 31:45 - What fuelled the violence and barbarity of the British Empire? 35:24 - Inheritance of law enforcement practices within post-colonial nations 38:28 - Statues 41:24 - How to make imperial history part of normal history 43:42 - Jane Austen and slavery 44:43 - Was profit the driving force behind the Empire? 47:10 - Legacy of Empire, recent events and privilege 49:20 - Empire Day 2.0 and the East India Company 51:13 - Final thoughts
What this episode covers
In this episode I get to talk to Sathnam Sanghera - author of EmpireLand: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain, memoir The Boy With the TopKnot and a novel, Marriage Material. In addition, Sathanm is a writer for The Times and a presenter for Channel 4. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ ★ Buy this podcast a coffee ★ Below is a rough breakdown of the conversation, as usual, it was an absolute blast. 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Leaving Wembley at the end of the EURO 2020 final 02:40 - Upbringing 04:00 - Parents arriving in the UK in the 1960s 05:38 - What was Wolverhampton like growing up? 07:31 - What led you to write Empireland? 10:38 - What were the reactions to Empireland when it was first published? 12:39 - Football, Priti Patel and racism. 15:38 - What goes into producing something like Empireland? 19:11 - Martial Race Theory 21:45 - "You can't review the history of Empire like it's a bloody kettle on Amazon." 23:05 - Imperial history often being monolithic in nature 25:26 - British Empire and Nazi Germany 29:00 - Dangers of making comparisons between the British Empire and Nazi Germany 30:05 - Anti-semitism within Europe before WWII 30:54 - "Every Empire rests on force, the British were not habitually cruel." 31:45 - What fuelled the violence and barbarity of the British Empire? 35:24 - Inheritance of law enforcement practices within post-colonial nations 38:28 - Statues 41:24 - How to make imperial history part of normal history 43:42 - Jane Austen and slavery 44:43 - Was profit the driving force behind the Empire? 47:10 - Legacy of Empire, recent events and privilege 49:20 - Empire Day 2.0 and the East India Company 51:13 - Final thoughts
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Empireland: EURO 2020, Racism and Nostalgia | Sathnam Sanghera
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