Between citizens and sit-inners: the 2017 Kamour sit-in and disidentification in Tunisia’s south

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper considers the 2017 Kamour sit-in as an example of lived citizenship. Composed of young men from the marginalized south of Tunisia, the Kamour sit-inners mobilized in pursuit of employment, regional development, transparency within the oil and gas sector and a life of dignity. To draw attention to their cause, the sit-inners disrupted the region’s hydrocarbon infrastructure through a series of roadblocks and sit-ins, culminating in turning off the pumping valve at the remote Kamour oil pumping facility. Throughout, the sit-inners framed their demands and actions in relation to Tunisian citizenship. The paper explores how a citizen subjectivity was constructed in conjuncture with the experience of living and protesting in Tunisia’s marginalized south. Drawing on Jacques Rancière’s notion of subjectivization, and the attendant concept of disidentification, I argue for the Kamour sit-in as a site where sit-inners creatively disordered the content and meaning of Tunisian citizenship, reimagining a citizen subjectivity grounded in the lived experience of Tunisia’s south.