(Un)framing Lampedusa: Regimes of visibility and the politics of affect in Italian media representations

Since at least 1992, the Mediterranean has become the unstable ground where the dominant policies of regulated mobility and discontinuous surveillance have been continuously challenged by bodies struggling for their fundamental right to move. This conflict involves also the field of representation and its forcible effects on perception and responsiveness. The aim of this chapter is to analyse how media representations augmented the 3rd October place of event, exploring how racial and gender norms operated to restrict what could be seen, felt and known on that occasion. Visual cultural analysis on media images of Lampedusa helps to unveil norms and patterns regulating our perception, but also to open up a space of political responsibility and critical intervention.