Representing ‘Sub-Saharan’ Boat Migrants: Global and Tunisian Media Narratives of the Mediterranean Migration ‘Crisis’

By Imene Gannouni Khemiri

Introduction[1]

The escalating ‘irregular’[2] migration across the Mediterranean Sea has become a major topic of international interest. While it is not a new phenomenon, the number of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants,[3] along with the associated death toll, has recently reached unprecedented levels. In 2023, reports estimated 212,100 attempts by migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, marking the highest number since 2017.[4] In the same year, Tunisia overtook Libya as the main departure point for migrants heading to Europe, with Guinean, Ivorian, Burkinabe, Malian, and Sudanese nationals constituting the majority of sea arrivals in Italy. This shift coincided with a dramatic rise in deaths, particularly off the Tunisian coast, where over 700 deaths were reported in 2023.[5] The International Organization for Migration Missing Migrants Project estimates that more than 3,155 migrants were reported dead or missing across the Mediterranean that year.[6] However, the actual number is likely to be higher, as many incidents go unreported or undetected.

Against this backdrop, the present study explores how the tragic deaths of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants crossing the Mediterranean are represented in media discourse. The analysis draws on news stories from the BBC and three Tunisian media outlets-Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP), Tunisie Numérique (TN), and Inkyfada-to examine how these contrasting Global North and South perspectives construct migration as a ‘crisis’, a narrative with significant political consequences.

Media Representations of Migrants and Migration as a ‘Crisis’

The media frequently depict migrants-particularly those moving from the Global South to the North-as an ‘invasion’ or a ‘threat’ to the host community, while alternatively portraying them as ‘victims’.[7] Although they are ‘hypervisible’[8] in the media, they remain the silent ‘other’.[9] De Haas, for instance, examines how Western media and political discourses disseminate mass migration and threat narratives, framing migration as a ‘massive invasion’ and a threat to the social cohesion of European countries. In the same vein, the “migrants as victims” narrative portrays African men, women and children undertaking perilous sea journeys to Italy as desperate victims fleeing poverty and exploited by “unscrupulous” and “merciless” smugglers.[10] Thus, the same narratives of migrants as both threat and victims ultimately call for stricter border control, legitimizing law enforcement, crime fighting and voluntary return programmes.[11]

Media coverage of migration also frequently employs metaphors of waves and floods to describe the arrival of migrants, emphasizing the threatening nature of the “other”.[12] While many studies have examined the representation of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants in European countries along the northern Mediterranean coast, particularly Italy, Spain and France, recent scholarship has increasingly shifted attention to Tunisia, where media coverage has intensified in response to the growing visibility of ‘sub-Saharan’ migration to and through the country.[13] Amal Hlioui, for instance, observes that Arabic-speaking Tunisian media use discursive strategies that construct ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants predominantly in negative ways.[14] These media portrayals contribute to a broader discourse that frames migration as a ‘crisis’, presenting it as a period of heightened danger requiring urgent political action. Cantat and her co-authors question the usefulness of the ‘crisis’ frame, arguing that it reduces migration to a sudden and temporary problem while de-historicizing and de-contextualizing it from the asymmetrical power relations that shape the contemporary world.[15]

Seeking to contribute to this literature, the present study compares Tunisian outlets—Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP), Tunisie Numérique (TN) and Inkyfada—selected for their different ownership structures (state-run, private and independent), with the BBC, chosen for its global reach. The analysis of media coverage of the March–April 2023 drownings of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants in the Mediterranean examines how these different geopolitical positions shape divergent framings of migration as a ‘crisis.’

Theoretical and Methodological Framework

Postcolonial, media and migration studies have often converged in their focus on how the portrayal of migrants as the ‘other’ relates to the ‘us vs. them’ dichotomy. This representation is entangled with power asymmetries in global relations, particularly where the Global South is involved, reinforcing racialized cultural hierarchies as well as populist and nationalist discourses.[16] This perspective also informs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a field concerned with structures of dominance, discrimination, power and inequality as expressed, constituted, legitimized and/or challenged in discourse.[17] Within this framework, discourse is analysed in relation to its socio-historical context in order to reveal power asymmetries and ideological struggles. By examining media representations of migrants, CDA helps identify the discursive strategies through which dominant ideologies and political agendas are reproduced or contested.

As for methodology, the study employs a qualitative approach based on the analytical categories proposed by Ruth Wodak, who outlines a three-dimensional analysis including topics of a particular discourse, discursive strategies and linguistic devices. The discursive strategies examined include nomination, attribution, argumentation and perspectivization. Argumentation relies on the category of topoi, defined as warrants linking a premise with a conclusion.[18] According to Wodak, the main topoi used in the negative representation of migrants include the topos of numbers (often accompanied by metaphors such as “floods” or “disease”), the topos of threat (to cultural identity, community values or through violence) and the topos of danger. By contrast, the topoi of humanitarianism and justice advocate equal rights for migrants, while the topos of authority contributes to legitimizing these discourses.[19]

This analytical framework is further enriched by van Leeuwen’s strategies for representing social actors, particularly individualization and collectivization.[20] The concept of framing, understood as the selection and salience of particular aspects of reality, also remains analytically significant. As Entman argues, framing involves selecting aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in order to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment recommendation.[21] In the context of migration, framing the Mediterranean as a ‘crisis’ may foreground either humanitarian concerns, such as protecting migrants’ lives, or securitization measures aimed at strengthening border control. These mechanisms reveal how media discourse justifies or contests migration governance, asymmetrical power relations and unequal access to mobility.

The corpus consists of sixteen news items collected from the digital platforms of the selected media outlets using keyword searches including “Mediterranean crossings,” “sub-Saharan African migrants,” “irregular migration,” “crisis,” “shipwrecks” and “death.” The analysis focuses on the coverage of boat disasters off the Tunisian coast in March and April 2023 and explores differences between global and local media narratives in framing these events.

Crisis, Illegality and Visibility without a Voice

The thematic analysis of the corpus reveals that the media outlets under consideration diverged in their coverage of the events. The BBC, for instance, reported the deaths of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants in the Central Mediterranean through a ‘crisis’ frame dominated by the topos of numbers. The headline, “Europe migrant crisis: Italian state of emergency to tackle migrant boats,” constructs the migration ‘crisis’ as an emergency for Italy, calling for an urgent and collective political response from the EU.[22] The body text reinforces this by noting that “Italian ministers have called a six-month state of emergency in response to a rise in migrant numbers crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.”[23] The narrative emphasizes mass migration, threat and emergency, framing the ‘crisis’ primarily as a challenge of migration governance and border security for European countries. The BBC thus constructs the events as a ‘crisis’ experienced primarily by Europe. However, the BBC also covered the same events under the headlines “Tunisia migrants” and “Tunisian migrant boat shipwrecks,” reframing them as a regional issue tied to Tunisia’s migration policy and its recent role as a transit zone for ‘irregular’ migrants, mostly sub-Saharan migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea.[24]

Framing migration across the Mediterranean as a European issue to be managed has important political implications. It is particularly stigmatizing for migrants, as it places Europe at the centre of the events while overlooking their experiences of risk and danger.[25] As Nikunen argues, these tragedies are often attributed to the sea, dangerous routes and smugglers, with little attention paid to restrictive migration policies and the securitization of borders.[26] Framing the deaths primarily in terms of migration control and border security obscures the violence of territorial borders and the European border regime.[27] The BBC thus constructs the ‘crisis’ mainly as a challenge to Italy’s migration governance, requiring a collective European response to mounting migration pressures.

Inkyfada covers the ‘migratory crisis’ differently by focusing on European migration policy based on border externalization and securitization. The report highlights the persistent efforts of European countries “to externalize migration controls to Southern Mediterranean states and police their Mediterranean borders.”[28] As Inkyfada notes, Tunisia’s land and sea borders have increasingly been closed with the support and funding of several EU countries, including Germany and Italy. The Tunisian Coast Guard, for example, received funding from the European Union, particularly Italy, to train and equip officers.[29] Drawing on the work of Ahlam Chemlali, the report argues that “the EU is more interested in containing migrant boats than in saving lives at sea … to stop migration at all costs.” It further questions EU externalization policies that portray interceptions as “rescue” operations and humanitarian aid, although surviving migrants often experience them as capture.[30] As Lutterbeck argues, the increasing militarization of migration control in the Mediterranean involves the deployment of military and semi-military forces alongside stricter legal frameworks and intensified cooperation between northern and southern Mediterranean states. The framing of migration as a threat has enabled security actors such as Frontex, the EU and NATO to justify the use of military resources in the governance of migration across the Mediterranean.[31]

Unlike state-run or privately owned outlets, Inkyfada embodies the characteristics of alternative media by challenging mainstream reporting, diversifying the media landscape and providing space for voices excluded from dominant narratives.[32] It constructs migration narratives that resist dominant crisis framings and foreground perspectives often marginalized in mainstream Tunisian and global media coverage.

A Crisis of Numbers

In the analyzed news stories, the migration ‘crisis’ is constructed as a crisis of numbers, with the topos of numbers serving as the dominant argumentative strategy. The BBC news stories, for instance, highlight the number of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants reported dead or missing, stating that “29 migrants have died after at least two boats sank off Tunisia’s coast within hours of each other” and that “at least 34 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, including children and babies, are missing after their boat capsized.[33] It is the fifth migrant boat to sink in two days, with seven people confirmed dead so far, and 67 still missing.”[34] Migrants often appear as numbers; although deaths are recognized and made visible, they are framed through statistics that obscure both the deficiencies in state-led search and rescue operations and the territorial violence of European borders.

Through perspectivization, the BBC cites the Tunisian coastguard spokesperson reporting that, in the first three months of 2023, “more than 14,000 migrants-most of whom are from sub-Saharan Africa-have been intercepted trying to reach Europe from Tunisia.”[35] The BBC notes that this figure is “five times higher than for the corresponding period last year.”[36] Similarly, TN and TAP report rescue operations by the Tunisian coastguard units, which rescued “761 migrants from Sub-Saharan countries,” thwarted “10 illegal crossing operations” in three days, and “rescued 85 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries.”[37]

The representation of migrants in terms of numbers suggests an indistinguishable mass of people, dehumanizing them by erasing their individual identities. The “numeric dehumanization” of migrants, together with the “affective circulation of fear,” operates by treating migrants as numbers and statistics in order to regulate practice and manufacture consensus opinion. As Nikunen argues, this makes migrants “the subject of rational economic calculation” and presents them as “a collective which is legitimately feared.”[38] This framing defines the problem as rising arrivals attributed to ‘irregular’ crossings and recommends strengthening border security and controlling migration as the appropriate response. The ‘crisis’, therefore, appears to be one of numbers and borders rather than struggling individuals.

Alongside this numeric dehumanization, the ‘wave’ metaphor is another important discursive strategy. The BBC reports Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s warning to the EU about a “migratory wave” threatening Europe.[39] Similarly, TAP states that “Tunisia recently saw a wave of irregular migration to Europe, especially Italy, involving sub-Saharan Africans.”[40] By portraying migration as a ‘wave’, these news outlets intensify perceptions of fear and threat by depicting migrants as an uncontrollable danger to Europe’s security, thereby reinforcing the narrative of a European migration ‘crisis.’

Visibility without a Voice[41]

In the analyzed news stories, the migration ‘crisis’ is defined through the voices of Tunisian and Italian authorities, whose official perspectives are privileged and quoted, while sub-Saharan migrants are silenced and denied agency.[42] The BBC, for instance, quotes Italian ministers and the Sea and Civil Protection Minister. Similarly, TN and TAP cite the National Coast Guard spokesperson and the public prosecutor, reinforcing an in-group perspective and privileging state authorities over migrant-centred experiences.

The BBC, TAP and TN represent Italian and Tunisian authorities as active agents in rescue and interception operations, providing humanitarian aid to ‘irregular’ migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Yet, none of the reports include direct or indirect quotations from sub-Saharan migrants themselves. Thus, the narrative of migration ‘crisis’ is constructed through the selective quoting of state authorities, granting them the power to define events while excluding migrant voices entirely.

Migrant, Refugee, Irregular, Illegal: A ‘Crisis’ of Terminology

In the news stories addressed in this study, nomination and predication operate so as to construct and represent ‘sub-Saharans’ as one single group. The news outlets describe migrants by origin, using the broad ethno-geographic label “sub-Saharan African” (BBC, TAP, TN and Inkyfada). Yet, this category is far from homogeneous, encompassing diverse nationalities, migratory trajectories and legal statuses.[43] These discursive strategies of aggregation and collectivization dehumanize migrants by lumping them into a single group.

In their coverage of the Mediterranean boat disasters, the different news outlets use the terms ‘migrant’, ‘refugee’ and ‘immigrant’ inconsistently. For example, the BBC alternates between ‘migrants’ and ‘refugees’, TAP refers to them as ‘migrants’, while TN labels them as ‘migrants’ and ‘immigrants’. However, the UNHCR defines refugees as people forced to flee their home countries due to threats of persecution, lacking protection from their own government.[44] In contrast, migrants leave their countries for reasons like employment, family reunification, or education and retain protection from their government. The IOM has a broader definition of migrants, encompassing anyone who moves away from their usual place of residence, but excludes those fleeing war or persecution, classifying them as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention.[45] In these categorizations of migrant and refugee, the distinction is not clear, making the classification of ‘sub-Saharans’ as refugees or migrants a problematic issue.

The Mediterranean ‘crisis’ is further constructed through the criminalizing language of ‘illegal’ migration, which frames ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants in a negative light by suggesting criminality.[46] As Timothy Hammond argues, terms such as “mixed migration” and “irregular migration” are more accurate ways of referring to the Mediterranean ‘crisis’, as different types of migrants are subject to different international laws and face different treatments in host countries.[47] Irregular migration, for instance, broadly refersto movement across borders migrants without authorized documents, but this does not necessarily equate to ‘criminality.’ In fact, lawmakers should consider irregular entries as administrative offences rather than criminal acts. By failing to distinguish between ‘illegal’ and ‘irregular’, media discourse strengthens negative stereotypes and criminalizes ‘irregular’ migrants.

Humanitarianism, Justice and Individualization

The independent Tunisian news outlet Inkyfada adopts a more ethical reporting strategy. In Inkyfada’s report, the individualization and humanization of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants are employed instead of ‘aggregation’ and ‘collectivization’.[48] The report also highlights their different nationalities and socio-economic circumstances: “Most of them are Ivorian and Guinean. Unemployed, often without housing or having lost the possibility of paying rent, thousands have decided to fast-track their migration plans since the racist wave that swept through Tunisia in late February.”

Inkyfada thus represents ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants as victims of racism, helplessness and destitution, who see “the Mediterranean as the only way out.” At the same time, the report gives them a voice by incorporating their own accounts to articulate their experiences. This stands as a counter-narrative to the coverage of the BBC, TAP and TN.

As Wodak argues, the “positive” topoi of humanitarianism and justice are generally more favorable towards migrants, whereas the negative topoi of threat and danger construct migrants as hostile “out-groups.”[49] Yet both approaches rely on an essentializing “us/them” dichotomy and ultimately convey “victimization” rather than genuine positive representation. In contrast, Inkyfada challenges dominant ‘crisis’ narratives and resists the essentializing polarization by giving voice to ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants and situating migration within asymmetrical global power relations.

Conclusion

The tragic deaths of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants are framed in different ways across the media outlets analyzed, reflecting distinct ideological and political positions. The BBC presents migration as a European ‘crisis’, calling for a collective EU response, while the Tunisian outlets, TN and TAP, emphasize interception and rescue operations as the primary response to ‘irregular’ Mediterranean crossings. By contrast, the independent outlet Inkyfada situates the ‘crisis’ within European border securitization and externalization policies, foregrounding humanitarian concerns rather than securitarian narratives.

Across the BBC, TAP and TN, ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants are predominantly represented through the topoi of numbers, threat and danger. They are quantified, depoliticized, dehumanized and constructed as a threat, serving to legitimize exclusionary discourses. Despite their visibility, they remain voiceless. Taking a different approach, Inkyfadat employs the topos of humanitarianism and justice, allowing these migrants to speak for themselves through individualization. Yet, this approach risksreducing them to victims rather than offering them a genuinelypositive representation.

These contrasting narratives highlight how migration coverage becomes a site where broader geopolitical inequalities are reproduced or contested. In Tunisia, mainstream media increasingly appropriated rhetorical strategies, often used in European right-wing and populist discourses. Framing the ‘crisis’ primarily in terms of numbers served to arouse fear and anxiety, while sidelining humanitarian concerns and obscuring the lived realities of migrants. In the Global North, outlets like the BBC reinforce a securitized perspective, presenting migration as a ‘crisis’ of ‘irregular’ flows to be controlled and externalized beyond European borders. In these narratives, media representation of migration is problem-centered.[50] Independent media, however, challenge these dominant frames by emphasizing migrant victimhood, humanitarianism and justice.

Finally, the political economy of media outlets, whether state-run, privately-owned or independent, shape content. Ethical reporting on migration can counter dominant migration ‘crisis’ narratives, while policy makers should recognize the need for more inclusive approaches to migration governance that acknowledge migrants’ lived experiences.

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Notes

[1] The term ‘sub-Saharans’ glosses over the complex variety of this group of migrants having different nationalities, migratory trajectories and legal statuses. // I refer to ‘crisis within single quotes to show the problematic nature of the term.

[2] IOM defines irregular migration as ‘movement of persons that takes place outside the laws, regulations, or international agreements governing the entry into or exit from the State of origin, transit or destination. However, there is no clear or universally accepted definition of irregular migration’. IOM, Key Migration Terms, https://www.iom.int/ key-migration-terms, accessed 13 October 2024.

[3] In this study, the term ‘migrant’ is used to encompass both migrants and refugees since the distinction between forced and voluntary mobility is often blurred.

[4] IOM and UNHCR, «Migrant and Refugee Movements through the Central Mediterranean Sea in 2023».

[5] Ibid.

[6] IOM, Missing Migrant Project. «31,360 missing migrants in the Mediterranean since 2014».

[7] Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, Christine E. Meltzer, Tobias Heidenreich, Beatriz Herrero, Niclas Theorin, Fabian Lind, Rosa Berganza, Hajo G. Boomgaarden, Christian Schemer, and Jesper Strömbäck. “The European Media Discourse on Immigration and Its Effects: A Literature Review.” Annals of the International Communication Association 42, no. 3 (2018): pp. 207–23.10.1080/23808985.2018.1497452

[8] Mazzara, Federica. Reframing Migration: Lampedusa, Border Spectacle and Aesthetics of Subversion. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019.

[9] Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “The Rani of Sirmur: An Essay in Reading the Archives.” History and Theory 24, no. 3 (1985): 247–72.

[10] De Haas, H. “The Myth of Invasion: The inconvenient realities of migration from Africa to the European Union,” Third World Quarterly, 29, no.7, (2008): pp. 1305–22. DOI: 10.1080/01436590802386435.

[11] De Haas, Hein. Changing the Migration Narrative: On the Power of Discourse, Propaganda and Truth Distortion. IMI Working Paper no. 181, no. 3. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, 2024. p. 11.

[12] van Dijk, Teun A. “Discourse and Migration.” In Qualitative Research in European Migration Studies, edited by Ricard Zapata-Barrero and Evren Yalaz, 227–245. Cham: Springer, 2020. p. 242.

[13]Colombo, Monica. ‘The Representation of the “European Refugee Crisis” in Italy: Domopolitics, Securitization, and Humanitarian Communication in Political and Media Discourse,’Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 16, 1-2, (2017): pp.161-178. DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2017.1317896. Lirola, M. «Approaching the Representation of Sub-Saharan Immigrants in a Sample from the Spanish Press» Critical Discourse Studies, 11, no.4, (2014): pp. 482-499, DOI: 10.1080/17405904.2014.915382. Ayoub, Mayssa «Media, Public Opinion and Migration Policies in Euromediterranean Countries: The Case of France». In Migrations in the Mediterranean, edited by Ricard Zapata-Barrero and Ibrahim Awad, Springer, 2024. pp.123–136.

[14] Hlioui, Amal, ‘Representation of Sub-Saharans in Tunisian media: A discourse historical approach to silencing and othering.’ In Migrations: Governance, Policies nd Rights, edited by S. Marcenò and G. Sajeva, Mimesis International, 2023. pp.111–133, p.111.

[15]Cantat, Céline, Antoine Pécoud, and Hélène Thiollet. “Migration as Crisis.” American Behavioral Scientist 69, no.6 (2025): 627–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642231182889. p. 28

[16] Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.

[17] Wodak, Ruth. “Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse-Historical Approach.” In The International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction, edited by Karen Tracy, Cornelia Ilie, and Todd Sandel, 8–9. First Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2015. pp. 6–8.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Wodak, Ruth, KhosraviNik, Majid and Krzyzanowski Michał, ‘Dynamics of Representation in Discourse: Immigrants in the British Press.» In Migrations: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Messer, R. Schroeder and R. Wodak Springer, (2012), pp. 283–296. pp. 292–93.

[20] Van, Leeuwen . Discourse and Practice New Tools for Discourse Analysis. Oxford, 2008. pp. 33–37.

[21] Entman, Robert M. “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” Journal of Communication, 43, no. 4 (1993): 51–58 .p. 52.

[22] Kirby and Davies, «Europe Migrant Crisis: Italian State of Emergency to Tackle Migrant Boats,» BBC, April 12, 2023.

[23] Ibid.

[24] BBC, ‘Tunisia Migrant Boat Shipwrecks Leave 27 Dead or Missing,’ BBC, April 8, 2023. Kirby and Davies, «Europe Migrant Crisis: Italian State of Emergency to Tackle Migrant Boats, » April 12, 2023.

[25] Wodak, W. M. Krzyżanowski and A. Triandafyllidou. «The Mediatization and the Politicization of the “Refugee Crisis” in Europe,» Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 6 , no 1–2, (2018), pp. 1–14. p. 3.

[26] Nikunen K. «Breaking the Silence: From Representations of Victims and Threat towards Spaces of Voice,» The SAGE Handbook of Media and Migration, edited by Kevin Smets, Koen Leurs Myria Georgiou, Saskia Witteborn and Radhika Gajjala. Sage, 2020, pp. 474–423, p. 415.

[27] Jeandesboz, Julien, and Polly Pallister-Wilkins. “Crisis, Routine, Consolidation: The Politics of the Mediterranean Migration Crisis.” Mediterranean Politics (2016). 3.

[28] Poletti, Arianna , « Navigating IMF and Migration Policy Negotiations: Tunisia’s Complex Dance» April 7, 2023

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Lutterbeck, Derek. ‘Policing Migration in the Mediterranean,’ Mediterranean Politics, 11, 1, (2006): pp. 59–8: 73.

[32] Holtz-Bacha, Christina, and Lynda Lee Kaid, eds. Encyclopedia of Political Communication. London: SAGE Publications, 2008. p. 27.

[33] Macaulay, Cecilia, «Tunisia Migrants: At Least 29 Die off Coast,» BBC, March 26, 2023.

[34] Radford, Antoinette, «Europe Migrant Crisis: Dozens Missing off Tunisian Coast,» BBC, March 24, 2023.

[35] Kirby and Davies, «Europe Migrant Crisis: Italian State of Emergency to Tackle Migrant Boats, » April 12, 2023. BBC, ‘Tunisia Migrant Boat Shipwrecks Leave 27 Dead or Missing,’ BBC, April 8, 2023

[36] Ibid.

[37] TAP, ‘National Guard: 49 illegal migration operations foiled and 921 migrants rescued in three days,’ April 24, 2023. TN,, «Coastguard: 39 Irregular Migration Operations Thwarted, » TN, April 24, 2023.

[38] Nikunen, Breaking the Silence, 476.

[39] Kirby and Davies, «Europe Migrant Crisis: Italian State of Emergency to Tackle Migrant Boats, » April 12, 2023

[40] TAP, «210 Migrant Bodies Recovered off Tunisian Coasts from April 18 to 27,’April 28, 2023.

[41] Martínez Lirola, María. “Approaching the Representation of Sub-Saharan Immigrants in a Sample from the Spanish Press: Deconstructing Stereotypes.” Critical Discourse Studies 11, no. 4 (2014): 482–499.

[42] Hlioui, A. «Representation of Sub-Saharans in Tunisian media: A discourse historical approach to silencing and othering», 120. Asma Hedi Nairi, The Representation of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Tunisian Written Media: A Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis, 1.

[43] Boubakri, H. “Revolution and international migration in Tunisia.” Migration Policy Center Research Report. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute. 2015. p. 17.

[44] UNHCR. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. 2011. www.unhcr.org, p. 3.

[45] IOM, Key Migration Terms.

[46] TAP, «National Guard: 49 Illegal Migration Operations Foiled and 921 Migrants Rescued in Three Days,» April 24, 2023.

[47]Hammond, Timothy. «The Mediterranean Migration Crisis» Foreign Policy Journal, May 19, (2015): 1–12. pp. 4–5.

[48] Wodak, Khosravink and Krzyzanowski, ‘Dynamics of Representation in Discourse: Immigrants in the British Press,’ 289.

[49] Ibid.

[50] Elberl et al, 2018.

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About the Author

Imene Gannouni Khemiri is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities, University of Manouba, Tunisia. She wasa short-term fellow at MECAMfor the 2025 cohort. She holds a Master’s degree and a Phd in cultural studies from the University of Manouba. Her doctoral research focused on the representation of Tunis in British travel writing (1815–1910). Her research interests include travel writing, migration studies, media studies, and visual culture. She has recently published “The making of “migration crisis”: Representing sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisian online media outlets,” Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, Special Issue: ‘In Transit: Mapping Digital and Transnational Narratives across Tunisian Borderlands’ (2025). As a participant in the “Migrant in Transit” program for emerging migration scholars in Tunisia, she has recently developed a strong interest in migration studies.

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Citation: Imene Gannouni Khemiri, Representing ‘Sub-Saharan’ Boat Migrants: Global and Tunisian Media Narratives of the Mediterranean Migration ‘Crisis’, in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 16.07.2026, https://trafo.hypotheses.org/66607

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