Hail to the thief: spectral egalitarianism in the Moroccan High Atlas

This essay examines the spectres haunting ideas of egalitarianism among Tashelhiyt‐speaking communities in the Moroccan High Atlas: first, the tyrant, an obvious frontal threat to ideas of equality; and then the vastly more complex figure of the thief ( amkhar ). Such figures abound in the principal local narrative genre, folktales, which constitute a privileged site of reflection on local social relations. This essay focuses on Hedgehog, the anti‐hero of the genre and a trickster figure par excellence. It argues that these narratives speak to and of a deeper societal tension. Acts of guile or theft embody a paradox central to the community's egalitarian values: they are both the condition that enables autonomy and the force that can undermine it. Through this lens, Hedgehog emerges as a symbol of the ‘nightmare of equality’, illustrating how egalitarian societies grapple with internal contradictions inherent to the pursuit of uncoerced independence.