The Morally Fraught Harga

Abstract

The Tunisian coastal town of Zarzis is known for its generations of male emigrants to France and for initiating post-revolutionary harga – the ‘burning’ of the border via undocumented sea crossings to ‘Europe’. Despite migration being central to life in Zarzis, the harga is fraught with anxieties and moral accusations. While older generations accuse younger ones of chasing after easy money and causing jealousies, thereby fuelling the harga, young men reckon that risking the crossing is a matter of escaping social death. Men of all ages also agree that the harga is often women’s fault. This article explores how the desire of making a living in Europe is evaluated in a departure town, and what the accusations and negative emotions it conjures up might reveal about people’s understandings of their economic and moral lives in times of political and social change.