The Representation of Francafrique in French Media: A Case Study of the Sahel 2013-2021

This study aims to interrogate orientalist discourses used by French media to construct a distorted representation of the Sahel and facilitate France's securitization of the region. The research focuses on Le Monde and Le Figaro, the two largest newspapers in Metropole France, by mapping their discursive legitimization strategies across the three dimensions specified in Fairclough's model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). This research study deploys postcolonialism as a theoretical framework and CDA to illustrate the evolution of French media discursive practices concerning the Sahel within the socio-cultural and historical context of Françafrique. The research used the coding categories of "terrorism", "migration", and "democracy" to identify the orientalist language and cultural references used by Le Monde and Le Figaro to construct a distorted representation of the Sahel. The research finds that French media's framing of the intervention obscures France's economic and geopolitical interests in the region, minimizes the agency of indigenous groups in the Sahel, and serves as a legitimization of France's continued militarization of the region.