Anthropological Perspectives on Student Futures: Youth and the Politics of Possibility (Anthropological Studies of Education)

This book examines diverse ways in which young people from around the world envision and prepare for their future education, careers, and families. The book features cutting-edge anthropological essays including ethnographic accounts of schooling in India, South Africa, the US, Bhutan, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Each chapter focuses on today’s generation of students and on students' use of education to create new possibilities for themselves. This volume will be of particular interest to practicing teachers and anthropologists and to readers who seek an ethnographic understanding of the world as seen through the eyes of students. Contents 6 List of Contributors 8 List of Figure 9 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 Introduction 10 Aspirations Within a Field of Play 13 Realizations Related to Emergent Horizons 18 The Politics of Possibility 22 References 22 Part I: Aspirations 26 Chapter 2: Aspiration as Capacity and Compulsion: The Futures of Urban Middle-Class Youth in India 27 Preparing for the Future at School 30 Aspiring at College 35 Conclusion 39 References 40 Chapter 3: “Too Good to Teach”: Bhutanese Students and a Hierarchy of Aspirations 41 An Investment or a Gamble? 43 “This College Was Not My First Choice”: Learning Aspirations 46 Narrowing Possibilities: “The Best and Only Option” 48 “Too Good to Teach” 50 Who Can Wait for Something Better? 51 I Want to Be a Sunflower 53 Notes 54 References 55 Chapter 4: A “Golden Generation”? Framing the Future Among Senior Students at Gülen-Inspired Schools in Urban Tanzania 58 Context and Methodology 61 Moral Formation and Visions of the Future 63 Maneuvering Between Social Contexts and Future Pathways 65 Securing Futures: Transnational Social Capital and Supervised Morality 69 Conclusion 72 References 73 Chapter 5: Aspiration, Piety, and Traditionalism Among Indonesian Islamic Boarding School Girls 75 Research Methods 77 Traditionalist Islam in Indonesia 77 Middle-Class Aspirations and Traditionalism 78 The Pesantren as a Critical Step in an Educational Pilgrimage 79 Imagined Futures, Pious Selves 81 Aspiration Through a Traditionalist Lens 82 Conclusion 85 Notes 85 References 86 Part II: Realizations 88 Chapter 6: Schooling in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Hopes, Struggles, and Contested Responsibilities 89 Hoping to Find Hope 90 Being Taught How to Hope 91 The (Im)materialization of Hope 95 Fixing the Future 97 Fixing the Future (Again) 98 Alternative Possibilities and the Struggle for Fulfillment 101 Notes 102 References 104 Chapter 7: Betrayed Futures: Uneconomic Schooling in Liberalizing Kerala (India) 107 English-Medium and Vernacular Schooling in Post-colonial, Liberalizing Kerala 108 Theoretical Frameworks: Consumption, Caste, and Hope 110 Sites, Histories, Methods 112 Death, Love, and Betrayal 114 Segregated Poverty, Shrinking Temporality 115 Obsessive Hope, Punishing Love 117 Stepping into the Future 118 Conclusion 119 Notes 119 References 120 Chapter 8: Practice for the Future: The Aspirational Politics of Nigerian Students 123 “I Need Job” 123 Young Africa 125 Education and Politics in Post-Military Nigeria 126 Roadmap1 127 “Deji” 129 “Obi” 131 Aspirational Politics 133 Note 134 References 134 Chapter 9: Hopeful Engagement: The Sentimental Education of University-Sponsored Service Learning 136 Introduction 136 DukeEngage and the Ascendance of “Global” Education 139 The Neoliberal Sentimentality of Service 142 Producing Hope, Managing Engagement 147 Food, Taste, and the Limits of Hope 149 The Education of Hope 154 Notes 157 References 158 Part III: Afterword 160 Chapter 10: Reflections on Student Futures and Political Possibilities: An Afterword 161 Figuring the Future in the Field of Education 163 Multiple Horizons of Futurity 165 Explaining the Emergence of Varying Capacities to Aspire 168 The Capacity to Aspire as Affective Labor 170 Aspiring for Social Change 171 References 174 Index 176 Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Aspiration as Capacity and Compulsion: The Futures of Urban Middle-Class Youth in India....Pages 19-32 “Too Good to Teach”: Bhutanese Students and a Hierarchy of Aspirations....Pages 33-49 A “Golden Generation”? Framing the Future Among Senior Students at Gülen-Inspired Schools in Urban Tanzania....Pages 51-67 Aspiration, Piety, and Traditionalism Among Indonesian Islamic Boarding School Girls....Pages 69-81 Front Matter....Pages 83-83 Schooling in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Hopes, Struggles, and Contested Responsibilities....Pages 85-102 Betrayed Futures: Uneconomic Schooling in Liberalizing Kerala (India)....Pages 103-118 Practice for the Future: The Aspirational Politics of Nigerian Students....Pages 119-131 Hopeful Engagement: The Sentimental Education of University-Sponsored Service Learning....Pages 133-156 Front Matter....Pages 157-157 Reflections on Student Futures and Political Possibilities: An Afterword....Pages 159-173 Back Matter....Pages 175-178