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Through a Girl’s Eyes: Youth Social Ontologies of Citizen Identity Among Jordanian and Arab Refugee Students in Jordan’s Double-Shift Secondary Schools

Mon, April 15, 1:30 to 3:00pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Bay (Level 1), Seacliff D

Proposal

Jordan is the largest refugee host country per capita in the world. Of Jordan’s 9.5 million inhabitants, 2.9 million are non-citizens, including refugees as well as legal and illegal immigrants (Ghazal, 2016). Refugees in Jordan often maintain their refugee status with limited rights even after decades in the country. National identity therefore is a thorny issue in Jordan. Syrian refugees now compose 20% of Jordan’s population and, unlike Iraqi refugees, have much less assets and are in need of greater social assistance. More than 80% of the Syrian refugees live in urban areas rather than in camps, and about 28% live in the capital Amman. The majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan’s urban areas are school-aged children (approximately 200,000 between the ages of 6-17 years). The refugee crisis has led to overcrowded public schools and a double-shift system with Jordanian students taught in the mornings and Syrian, Iraqi, and other refugee students taught in the afternoons. This raises the challenging issue of national identity and the question of who is Jordanian. National identity is often associated with formal citizenship and tied to residency within a specified territory or border. National identity, however, is also subjective in that it can refer to a person’s feeling of identification with, and sense of belonging to, a nation-state, regardless of one’s legal citizenship status. National identity therefore is especially complex in Jordan because who (and what) is global and who (and what) is local in this host refugee state? How does formal education shape youths’ understandings of citizenship? And, how do various structures and discourses contribute to shaping their citizen identities?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the social ontological perspectives of citizen identity among secondary students by investigating female Arab students’ schooling experiences of social inclusion or exclusion, the kind of citizenship they believe is promoted in public (government) schools in Jordan, and their own views of citizenship and citizen identity. This empirical research offers evidence-based qualitative analysis regarding the knowledge perspectives of female youth informed by a complex set of cultural identity markers—nationality, religion, and ethnicity (Arabness). Findings emerge from data collected through 10 focus groups with 92 Arab female students (54 Jordanians and 38 refugees) at three, all-girl secondary schools in two different education directorates in Amman, Jordan. Double-shifts were created at these schools over the past three years to address the issue of overcrowding and the need for refugee education.

Ontology—the nature and relations of being—derives from the Greek word ‘onto’ (being) and logia (written and spoken discourse). In particular, the theoretical construct of ontological security is examined. Ontological security refers to a sense of order and continuity in life events and one’s ability to give meaning to life experiences. For sociologist Giddens (1991), self-identity is central to ontological security because a person’s identity is “the capacity to keep a particular narrative going” as one integrates events in the external world with one’s “ongoing ‘story’ about the self” (p. 54). The goal of this work is to ascertain and analyze youth dispositions and values shaping their social identities. Toward that end, the views that Arab female youths hold about nation, host-country, and school create a narrative about citizenship and their role in society.

Drawing upon the notion of “thick signifier” (Huysmans, 1998, p. 231) as an analytical framework to investigate youth social identities, this paper explores how (in)security influenced by power relations plays a role in constructing citizenship in Jordan. ‘Signifier’ refers to a symbol or image (as a word) that represents an underlying concept or meaning. The cultural symbols that emerge from the data gathered from girls in Amman’s double-shift secondary schools reveal an image of: Arab civilization as signifier of solidarity and unity in terms of a shared past, present, and future; Jordan as signifier of a peaceful, safe, and secure Kingdom; the King of Jordan as signifier of benevolent support to the country’s inhabitants; and Jordan as hospitable and “home” with some strides made in relation to women’s rights. The discussions with Jordanian and refugee students simultaneously reinforce and problematize these identity signifiers.

As part of the sustainable development agenda, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan seeks to promote a culture of peace and non-violence. This empirical study offers theoretical insight by arguing that ontological security, not only ecological balance, is central to sustainable development in the country and to constructions of citizenship. Because there is very little research, if any, conducted in government schools about youth citizen identities, this work makes an original contribution to the field of comparative and international education and provides new knowledge about youth social ontologies important to questions of national and ethnic citizenship. The intent is to offer these Arab youth voices, findings, and conclusions to inform contemporary global discourses on citizenship and citizenship education that have heretofore been largely premised on Western citizenship perspectives and assumptions.

References

Ghazal, M. (2016 January 22). Population stands at around 9.5 million, including 2.9 million guests. The Jordan Times. Available at: http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/population-stands-around-95-million-including-29-million-guests

Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity.

Huysmans, J. (1998). Security? What do you mean? From concept to thick signifier. European Journal of International Relations, 4, 226-255.

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