International headlines captured the world’s attention earlier this week when Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and her husband Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, sat down for an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey. They both shared their reasons for the exodus from the Royal household.
University of Winnipeg Associate Professor Dr. Kimberley Ducey, Department of Sociology, and Joe R. Feagin began writing their book, Revealing Britain’s Systemic Racism: The Case of Meghan Markle and the Royal Family, after recognizing a pattern of racism in the early days.
A gripping modern day Grimm’s fairy-tale of race, gender, and class – frightening but impossible to put down!
Heidi Safia Mirza
Ducey was aware that Prince Harry publicly condemned the British media in 2016 for their “wave of abuse and harassment” of then-girlfriend Markle.
He citied a smear campaign on the front page of a national newspaper and tabloids that contained racial undertones and opinion pieces of “outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments” about the future Duchess. However, when Ducey was watching the Royal wedding on May, 19, 2018, it became very clear.
“The same day that Meghan married Harry I saw how the Royals rolled their eyes and smirked at the African American clergy man who gave a sermon,” said Ducey.
After seeing many Royal experts suggest the black-styled sermon was not suitable for a high church service, Ducey recognized the racism.
Although Revealing Britain’s Systemic Racism: The Case of Meghan Markle and the Royal Family will not be released until May 28, the book and its authors are getting lots of attention. Ducey and Feagin are internationally in demand to share their academic expertise and their book is already getting rave reviews with its timely release.
“Through a theoretically informed, historically grounded, and timely intervention, they analyze why a Black duchess can simultaneously be celebrated as proof of a colour-blind Britain while also interpreted as an imminent threat to the aristocracy. This work invites no less than a revisioning of the very structures that underpin British society.” – Dr. Nalini Mohabir, Concordia University.
“Whether your friend, foe, or indifferent to the Royal family, I promise this book’s forensic expose of the elite racism at the heart of the British establishment will leave you in no doubt about the seismic symbolism her young, brown female skin represents to an old White male Imperial institution. A gripping modern day Grimm’s fairy-tale of race, gender, and class – frightening but impossible to put down!” – Dr. Heidi Safia Mirza, Goldsmith College University of London
About the book
Ducey and Feagin’s book applies an existing scholarly paradigm (systemic racism and the white racial frame) to assess the implications of Markle’s entry and place in the British royal family, including an analysis that bears on visual and material culture.
The white racial frame, as it manifests in the UK, represents an important lens through which to map and examine contemporary racism and related inequities. By questioning the long-held, but largely anecdotal, beliefs about racial progressiveness in the UK, the authors provide an original counter-narrative about how Markle’s experiences as a biracial member of the royal family can help illumine contemporary forms of racism in Britain.
Revealing Britain’s Systemic Racism identifies and documents the plethora of ways systemic racism continues to shape ecological spaces in the UK. Ducey and Feagin challenge romanticized notions of racial inclusivity by applying Feagin’s long-established work, aiming to make a unique and significant contribution to literature in sociology and in various other disciplines.
