As part of SEN Journal Online Exclusives’ new theme of focus, ‘Banal Xenophobia in 21st Century Europe’, we are excited to present this interview with Dr. Michael Skey, Senior Lecturer at the University of East London. We discuss Dr. Skey’s recently published book, National Belonging and Everyday Life: The Significance of Nationhood in an Uncertain World, and ask him what the term banal xenophobia evokes in the UK and Europe today.
Karen Seegobin interviewed Dr. Skey on banal xenophobia and national identity in Britain.
1. Dr. Skey, thank you for doing this interview. Perhaps we can begin with you telling us a bit about your research interests and how you became interested in your field?
That’s a very long story! The short version is that I did a module on my undergraduate degree, which examined issues around nationalism and national identity. It was something that I’d never really considered before and it made me interested in the question of why so many people take for granted the idea that they live in and belong to a nation. Having left academia after doing a Masters, I stumbled upon a copy of Billig’s Banal Nationalism and this got me thinking about the topic again. I eventually applied to do a PhD, completed at the LSE in 2008, exploring three primary issues: how do national forms of identification and organization become objectified and ‘naturalised’, and why, and to whom, might they matter. As well as ‘everyday nationhood’, I’m also interested in the study of media events and rituals, everyday life, cosmopolitanism and sport.