Adriana Valente, Valentina Tudisca, and Silvia Caravita published an article in the journal “Mondi Migranti” published by FrancoAngeli Editore, presenting the results of research on the representation of migration in Italian secondary school textbooks, conducted by the COMESE research group at CNR-IRPPS, as part of the “Imago Migrantis” project

“…The authors present an analysis of the most widely adopted History and Geography textbooks in Italian secondary schools during the 2016-2017 academic year, aimed at investigating the representation of migrants and migration through images and texts. Textbooks are indeed a type of media that can influence public discourse by presenting a particular vision of society to those who will be future citizens, conveying value systems both explicitly and implicitly. In this sense, they can serve as instruments for constructing support for power or cultural resistance, an aspect reflected in the so-called “delay in didactic transposition,” which helps to understand the relationship between knowledge and values. Given their “political” character, albeit cloaked in institutional authority, it is important to reflect critically on this type of media, particularly regarding the promotion of discrimination and stereotypes. Among the findings of the study, a narrative that describes migrants predominantly as “victims” and as a resource (especially economic) for the destination country, while not lacking a representation in terms of problems, whereas the theme of human rights is rarely addressed. At the same time, the images convey a predominantly “male” representation that tends to “veil” the presence of women, in contrast with the data, but with some elements that the authors consider to be an evolution compared to previous studies” .