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

In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser

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!