THE PASSPORT: Laurie Taylor explores the cultural history of an indispensable document which has given citizens a license to travel and helped to define the modern world. Patrick Bixby, Professor of English at Arizona State University, delves into the evolution of the passport through the tales of historical figures, celebrities, artists, and writers, from Frederick Douglas to Hannah Arendt. How has the passport become both an instrument of personal freedom as well as a tool of government surveillance? They’re joined by Kristin Surak , Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the LSE and author of a new study which investigates the routes taken by wealthy elites in pursuit of a ‘golden passport’. Through six years of fieldwork on four continents, she discovered how the sale of passports has transformed into a full-blown citizenship industry that thrives on global inequalities.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Health divides - Counting global health
Age of noise - British drinking
Sexual violence in the Bangladeshi War of Independence - Global danger and the risk to research
Super Rich: The 1% of the 1%
Laurie Taylor discusses the relationship between literature and sociology.
Musicians Union - women heavy metal fans
Men and Violence - Stag Parties
Success and Luck - Cosmopolitanism and Private Education
Foie gras & the politics of taste - Memories of Irish food
Racial segregation, Dementia and hair care
Population change - Chronic illness
Evangelicals - Troubled families
Drone warfare, Fitness instructors
Hoods - Construction Blacklist
House of Commons - Voting and Inequality
Rentier capitalism - Protest camps
Political polarisation, An anthropologist's guide to naming
Higher Education - Crisis or Change?
Shyness - Names
Men dressing up - The male 'suit'
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