In the last several decades, people have moved across the Mediterranean in both directions.

From the young North Africans moving to France in the 1950s and 1960s, attracted by modernism and wealth to the disabused workers who lost their jobs in France and had to decide whether to stay abroad or go back home, this paper seeks to contextualize these movements and examine in particular those who went home.  Encouraged by the French state in the 1970-1980s, a certain number of Tunisians chose to find a way back. However, they were not necessarily welcomed home.  Some there thought that the migrants had previously made a choice and should stick to it. Furthermore it was not always easy to find suitable jobs in Tunisia.  In recent years, second or third generation people of Tunisian origin have also engaged in a back and forth movement, working as small entrepreneurs in France while helping improve the flow of resources to Tunisia.  It remains to be seen whether recent events will further increase or slow movement in both directions.