Youth and Education in the Middle East

'A fresh and theoretically sophisticated ethnography of a Middle East university and its contradictions. Skilfully interweaving accounts of global policy initiatives, student lives, campus activism and the gendered challenges of the local labour market, Cantini makes an important contribution to the anthropology of higher education.' - David Mills, Department of Education, Oxford University; 'Cantini's book is a notable contribution to the small but growing literature on the history and ethnography of higher education in the Middle East. Examining the University of Jordan as an institution, a space, an experience and a vector of socio-economic and political currents, Cantini's study presents a view of Jordanian society missing from more traditional ethnographies - one where young people are constructing their lives and identities while contesting, resisting or railing against their contexts, even when they are "stuck" in them. These complexities are nicely contextualized within an institutional analysis of the university as a site for modernity, state power, legitimacy and globalization.' - Seteney Shami, Director General, Arab Council for the Social Sciences and Program Director, Social Science Research Council