Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore how migration and pursuing a dignified life are experienced and valuated, and what the anxieties and blame games they give rise to might reveal about people's understandings of their economic and moral lives.

Paper long abstract:

The Tunisian coastal town of Zarzis sprawls on a strip of sand dotted with olive trees and elaborate villas, largely funded by men working in France. Zarzis was also one of the main points of undocumented departure for Lampedusa in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution. The town has since reverted to being strongly implicated in the production and policing of the EU's border. Yet this has not prevented new generations of men from seeking to do the harga - the burning of the frontier. When explaining their motivations for being willing to risk it across the Mediterranean, young men point to the lack of jobs and perspectives in Zarzis. "Ya harga ya sharga": either we make it or we drown, but we might as well try, since we are already dead here. The persistence of the harga gives rise to myriad anxieties and moral accusations among the inhabitants of Zarzis. Older generations of men, who had migrated to France legally under more lenient mobility regimes, believe younger emigrates' immoral displays of European wealth to be at the core of the harga problem. Those aspiring to leave are accused of chasing after the easy money and sinful temptations of the West. Men of all ages agree on one thing: the harga is the women's fault. This paper will explore how migration and pursuing a dignified life are experienced and valuated, and what the blame games they give rise to might reveal about people's understandings of their economic and moral lives.