Harry Pettit reports on how marginalized communities survive economic collapse, with recent focus on Lebanon’s crisis. His work for The New Arab and academic platforms blends data journalism with ethnographic narratives.
“Hope is the emotional lubricant keeping broken economies moving.” — The Labor of Hope (2024)
Harry Pettit has carved a niche as a journalist and academic dissecting the human dimensions of economic precarity. His career spans fieldwork in Cairo, London, and Beirut, blending ethnographic rigor with incisive economic analysis. Starting with doctoral research on young Egyptian men navigating unemployment, Pettit revealed how emotional labor sustains hope amid systemic failure[4]. This foundation informed his subsequent investigations into makeshift welfare systems and cash-based survival economies.
"Capitalism is not only an economic system but also a system of production and allocation of hope." — The Labor of Hope (2024)[4]
This investigation into Beirut’s Toters delivery app drivers exposed how digital platforms exploit Lebanon’s cash crisis. Pettit tracked how Syrian migrants borrow from informal networks to offset withheld wages, blending financial ethnography with policy critique. The piece influenced debates on migrant labor rights in MENA tech economies.
Co-authored with Dina Zbeidy, this analysis dissected Western media framing of Palestinian resistance. By contrasting coverage of Ukraine and Gaza, the authors revealed systemic biases in portraying anti-colonial movements. The article became a reference in media ethics discussions, cited by NGOs addressing asymmetric conflict reporting.
Though technically a book, this work functions as a masterclass in longitudinal journalism. Over seven years, Pettit documented Egyptian graduates’ strategies to maintain dignity despite unemployment. The project redefined how media outlets cover youth unemployment beyond statistics.
Pettit prioritizes stories revealing how individuals navigate broken systems rather than abstract policy discussions. Successful pitches might explore: informal lending circles among gig workers, barter systems in hyperinflation economies, or community kitchens during currency collapses. His Focaalblog piece on Beirut drivers borrowing to offset withheld wages exemplifies this approach[5].
Platform economies in crisis zones are a recurring theme. Pitch investigations into how apps like Uber or Glovo adapt extraction methods during economic collapses. Pettit’s work on Toters in Lebanon showed how apps exploit cash shortages to delay payments[5].
Stories about Syrian, Sudanese, or Yemeni migrants developing alternative economies are ideal. Avoid generic refugee narratives; Pettit seeks accounts of specific survival strategies, like his documentation of Syrian drivers creating parallel cash networks[5].
Pitches should enable deep immersion, like his 3-month embed with Cairo graduates. Propose access to communities practicing mutual aid or workers developing covert resistance tactics against platforms.
Pettit’s early work on “hope labor” makes him receptive to stories exploring psychological costs of precarity. Pitch pieces on gig workers’ mental health coping mechanisms or how prayer/rituals sustain economic endurance.
Radboud University Research Excellence Fellowship (2024): Awarded for pioneering work on cash economies in crisis zones, recognizing Pettit’s methodological innovation in tracking physical money flows[1].
LSE Middle East Centre Citation of Impact (2023): Honored for reshaping discourse on Arab youth unemployment through longitudinal field research[2].
