Discursive Practices within the Discourse on Civil Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean
Ein Gastbeitrag von Mareike Gebhardt

The blogpost is a summary of the lecture „Verherrlichung – Kriminalisierung – Dämonisierung: Stationen der zivilen Seenotrettung im Mittelmeer“ held at 14 October 2025 as part of the lecture series „Politische Kipppunkte. Feministische Perspektiven auf gegenwärtige Autoritarisierung und Faschisierung“ at the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Innsbruck (CGI). It presented preliminary results from the ZivDem research group („Zivile Seenotrettung als Kristallisationspunkt des Streits um Demokratie“), based at Münster University and the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW) at the University of Bonn, and funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and FIW. The research group is dedicated to civil search and rescue (SAR) in the Mediterranean. The lecture focused on the discourse on civil SAR in Germany and Italy, ranging from “the long summer of migration” of 2015 up to the ten-year anniversary of civil SAR in the Mediterranean in 2025.1








