This paper describes an ethnographic journey in a crisis context. Using ethnographic data gathered at the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT), the biggest union organization in Tunisia during three specific episodes (December 2010, February 2011 and December 2011), it aims to explore the emotional challenges facing anthropologists/ethnographers who study social movements in a crisis context and to reflect upon possible ways of dealing with them. In this chapter, we build upon our reflexion on doing ethnographic work in crisis contexts by addressing the subject of emotions from two different methodological angles: first as a resource, and second, as a critical tool in identity work for the ethnographer.