Intersectionality in Migrant Narratives: Preferences for Social and Media Representation

Mass media allows us to broaden our knowledge of social reality and the world. However, they also facilitate the internalization of society's norms, values, expectations, and beliefs, performing a socialization function alongside institutions, such as the family, school, or peer group (Cappi et al. 2021).

Mass media very often depict migrants and refugees as speechless victims, invisible, and apolitical (Nyers 2003). These depictions hide or cancel the survival strategies and agencies of migrants and refugees, turning them into objects of pity or fear. Migrants are represented either as criminals or potential terrorists with immoral agencies, labelled as fraudsters or welfare abusers, and depicted as trafficking victims or forced migrants (Mainwaring 2016). Media exclusion often mirrors and simultaneously deepens social exclusion, or in other words, invisibility caused by media reverberates in the broader public discourse and the audience agenda (Musarò and Parmiggiani, 2022).

This poster will demonstrate the media and social representation of migrants in Italy, focusing on their preferences regarding representation in media and public discourse. Drawing on qualitative and visual research methods (Pink 2001; Rose 2001) such as photovoice and photo elicitation interviews with migrants from diverse backgrounds, this poster will show how these individuals perceive their social identities and narratives surrounding them (Aiello and Parry, 2020) and their preferences on media and social representation as migrants. Intersectional methodology (Crenshaw, 1991; Collins and Sirma, 2008) and feminist standpoint theory (Harding, 1996) will be adopted to analyze migrants’ visual and oral narratives on (self)representation (Hall 1996).

This poster aims to contribute through visual methods to discussions on vulnerability, agency, and social justice by remarking on migrants' visual and oral narratives and informing policymakers and media practitioners about the importance of responsible and non-biased representation and the potential for more inclusive narratives that respect the diversity and complexity of migrant experiences.