Representations of Tunisian Undocumented Migration on the Internet: Methodological Approaches to a Digital Anthropology of Facebook

Abstract

In this chapter, we aim to analyse the representations of Tunisian undocumented migration on the internet. Even after the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ and its popular demands for dignity and liberty, the desire of young men to ‘burn their papers’ ( harga), to leave their country of first citizenship and to reach Europe still persists. Undocumented mobility is by no means a one-dimensional, single-layered process, but reflects a transnational social imaginary and its various cultural resources. By beginning our investigation on Facebook, we are able to view (potential) migrants as actors rather than labelling them victims. Here, we present the methodological approaches we used to explore the audio-visual imaginary linked to Tunisian undocumented migration on YouTube and Facebook. Step by step, we show how we gathered a corpus of Facebook pages in order to analyse the circulation of representations on the internet. Finally, we discuss the prospects for further research.