Tunisian migrants' journey through the Mediterranean

While the entire world is looking at the unexpected uprisings in some Arab countries, almost 6000 Tunisian migrants try to reach illegally the Italian coasts. Most of them are from 18 to 30 years-old: they participated to the turmoil in Tunisia but, taking advantage of the weakened surveillance during Ben Ali’s transition, crossed the Mediterranean Sea hoping for a better life in Europe. Following Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, our research retraces their stay in Cagliari’s Reception and Identification Camp, exploring their intimate emotions, their hopes, and dreams, but also the police procedures of identification and de-personalization. The heterotopia state that they experience, as well as the state of exception of their restrained condition, seems to take a different way when they get familiar with some city places. Then, migrants become able to imagine a journey toward a safe place, reconsidering their recent past, their role in the Tunisian revolution and their future in Europe.