NEGOTIATING TUNISIA’S AFRICANNESS: A DIALOGICAL NETWORK STUDY OF KAIS SAIED’S SPEECH AND THE CONTROVERSY OVER SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS

Abstract

This study analyzes Tunisian President Kais Saied’s speech to the National Security Council concerning Sub-Sahara African immigrants, the responses from Amnesty International and the African Union, and his joint statement with Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló. Using Dialogical Networks and structured immediacy, it traces how discourse on immigration policy circulates across media conferences, press releases, and social platforms. The analysis reveals that Saied framed migration as a national threat, reinforcing anti-Black prejudice and scapegoating human rights groups to justify restrictive policies. While later rhetoric affirmed Tunisia’s African identity, his distinction between “Africans” and North Africans exposed an exclusionary stance embedded in pan-African language. This contradiction highlights how authoritarian rule legitimizes itself by directing discourse against immigration, normalizing prejudice, and stifling dissent.