Episode 122 - SISONKE MSIMANG EXAMINES THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Can one ever get enough of the incisive commentary of South
African author, essayist and commentator Sisonke Msimang? I
hosted her on this edition of In The Ring to explore aspects of
the social and cultural impact of Queen Elizabeth II.

I started off by asking Sisonke whether she would like an
opportunity to mourn the Queen. I wonder what you will make of
her response? It was uhm #Awks

We explored a range of questions and issues, among them: the
script of Empire, including "respectability and decorum" issues
that Msimang explains as problematic in some of the responses to
the death of the Queen; whether jocular responses, including the
meme-ification of the monarchy, are acceptable or not;
hypocritical tropes in how some Brits respond to their monarchy
compared to the judgemental gaze of similar traditions elsewhere;
whether or not the Queen is directly culpable for aspects of
imperialism or 'merely' a beneficiary of unjust historical
events; the place of monarchies in modern democracies; etc.

Enjoy!