Waithood in Jordan; The Role of Education

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of education in reproducing and/or reducing Waithood for youth in Jordan. In Jordan, and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in general, the situation for the majority of youth is dominated by both social and political exclusion and justifiable frustrations over lack of possibilities. The term ‘Waithood’ seeks to describe this situation and refers to youth’s inability to achieve status as adults, and thus remaining in a state of waiting for adulthood. Youth in Jordan are trapped this state of waithood, not able to grow up to become socially recognised as an adult citizen, but instead being pushed into protracted youthhood of economic, social, and political marginalisation. Thus, the research question of this thesis is: The role of education in Jordanian waithood; reproducing or reducing waithood for the youth of Jordan? The fieldwork for this thesis was conducted in Jordan during the spring and autumn of 2016 in two separate periods consisting of a total of nine months. The fieldwork consisted mainly of participant observation, half-structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Both grassroots youth activists, NGO-workers and representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Education were interviewed. Young Jordanians have never been better educated and the amount of employable youth is unprecedented. The combination of being one of the most educated nations of the MENA region, among the youngest populations, as well as having one of the highest rates of youth unemployment (particularly among educated youth), indicate that education does in fact not reduce waithood. The aim of this thesis is nevertheless to shed light on and discuss what happens to youth and the institution of education when the means and vehicles to complete the transition to adulthood appear to be blocked. It investigates what role education plays when the youthful drive towards future derails in the no-mans-land of waithood and asks whether education is the carriage out of it, or part of the train that brought them there in the first place.