Identity, Belonging and the Role of the Media in Brexit Britain

1 September 2018 - 30 November 2020

PI/s in Exeter: Professor Katharine Tyler

CI/s in Exeter: Professor Susan Banducci, Dr Travis Coan, Professor Dan Stevens

Research partners: Dr Cathrine Degnen (Newcastle, Anthropology). Research Fellows - Joshua Blamire and Laszlo Horvath

Funding awarded: (total funding of £ 753,728)

Sponsor(s): ESRC

Project webpage(s)

Identity, Belonging and the Role of the Media in Brexit Britain

About the research

This project will explore ethnographically the attitudes, beliefs and values of individuals from different social backgrounds (in terms of ethnicity, migration status, nationality, class, gender, religion and generation) and geographical locations regarding questions of immigration, national identity and European belonging in the face of Britain's exit from the EU, and how this is reflected in identity formations. Because the media has become inseparable from these political and social processes we will ask: What role have media narratives around Brexit (both within traditional and social media sources) played in these processes; to what extent are they reflected in everyday lives; and in turn, to what extent are the narratives that are uncovered in the everyday mirrored in the media? To address these questions we will develop innovative research strategies that integrate in-depth multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted across different areas of England with quantitative national and local media content analysis.