Ammani Youth- Paradoxical Citizens on the Margins Holly L
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Spring 2019 Ammani Youth- Paradoxical Citizens on the Margins Holly L. Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Geography Commons Recommended Citation Smith, H. L.(2019). Ammani Youth- Paradoxical Citizens on the Margins. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5159 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AMMANI YOUTH- PARADOXICAL CITIZENS ON THE MARGINS by Holly L. Smith Bachelor of Arts Eastern University, 1999 Master of Arts University of South Carolina, 2015 ___________________________________________ Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2019 Accepted by: Amy Mills, Major Professor Caroline R. Nagel, Committee Member Jessica E. Barnes, Committee Member Karen Culcasi, Committee Member Rami F. Daher, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Holly L. Smith, 2019 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To SmithTeamSix- four of whom agreed to the ‘year of the hot lunch’ only to have it turn into three years of hot lunches… before giving up and learning to pack their own lunches. Cameron, Carter, Cobin, and Calleigh this journey was a team effort and I thank you for your telling me, “Mom- DO YOUR WORK!” and to the fifth- for always cheering me on and sustaining the team- Troy you are my rock. also For my father- Tom Hinrichs who taught me the value of education, my mother Sue who always believed I could, and my sister Heidi who not only set the standard but is full of surprises. Cindy’s Eriksen’s rescue operation to care for my kids while I took my comps and Troy was deployed allowed me to focus on being a student and made this whole thing much less insane. I dedicate this to each of you. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without Dr. Mills literally twisting my arm to apply for the program, twisting my brain to teach me how to think in new (and better) ways, and teaching me to twist my words to make them sound better, I wouldn’t have finished the journey. Her gentle spirit and quiet scholarly prowess made me believe I belonged, and I am forever grateful. To the rest of my committee members who pushed me to excel and continued supporting me along the journey: Dr. Nagel who demands excellence and showed me how to get there. Dr. Barnes- who’s tireless work ethic is the stuff of legends and always inspires me. Dr. Daher, who invested countless hours guiding me to get as close to the native truth as I could and who’s wisdom made this project infinitely better. Dr. Culcasi, who dove in and instantly held me accountable and proved a valuable guide. To those peers who took me under their wings: Kwame who unknowingly signed up to be my life-long reader, Daniel, who taught me to not overcomplicate things, Mike who reminded me to see the people, and Beth who will forever be BFN. MEHOGGS: Angie, Divin, and Ben. The dungeon was a rewarding place because we were in it together. Your willingness to endure my Arabic, to be my top peer review crew, to always motivate, and to occasionally harass turned this journey into lighter team effort than if I tried to go solo. You are z best! Thanks also to the following organizations for supporting my research: Bilinksi Foundation, Walker Institute, SPARC, Dera Parksinson Foundation, Rhude Patterson Foundation, and the Masachi Award. iv ABSTRACT Cities are complex social environments representing a convergence of many physical and human processes which influence how young people form their identities and plan for their futures. The role of urban environments on social processes has received substantial attention. However, significantly less attention has been focused on how urban youth are impacted specifically as political actors. Youth are particularly exposed to feeling the impacts of historical and on-going geopolitical issues in and surrounding their urban environments. Amman, Jordan is a compelling location to examine urban impacts on young political actors because of the clear geopolitical changes taking place in and around the city. Amman has nearly doubled in size following recent instability in neighboring Iraq and Syria, which has deeply affected neighborhoods, the makeup of the city’s population, and daily experiences of being Ammani. This study furthers our understandings of how youth are experiencing and managing urban processes across the local, regional, and global scales. How young people are responding to increasing neoliberal pressures and challenges felt throughout their daily lives provides insights for academics, policy makers, and other stakeholders focusing on youth and their social movements. By applying a critical geopolitics theoretical framework to a young urban population and introducing the concept of situated citizenship, this study illuminates previously unexplored adaptations and v applications of urban citizenship which may offer value applicability to other young urban populations. In Chapter 1 I summarize the historical events which have created contemporary Amman’s unique situation. In Chapter 2, I review the critical urban citizenship and critical youth geopolitical literatures which frame my work. Then in Chapter 3 I outline my methodological approach to my research. I present a cultural mapping of Amman in Chapter 4 to detail how the three most dominant regions of the city add specific cultural layers to youth’s daily lives. In Chapter 5, I outline how the city itself serves as a place of exclusion within the shared mental mapping of Jordanian-ness. Specifically, I argue that young people experience a situated citizenship based on historical geographies and multi- scalar relationships. In Chapter 6, I focus on the impacts of increasing regional pressure and decreasing opportunities which are compelling young people to decide whether to try and leave Amman for the chance to secure their futures or whether they will stay and try to fight for their rights to make the city. In Chapter 7, I review Jordan’s original social contract and how recent events have been testing the validity of this social contract for Amman’s youth. Then in Chapter 8, I highlight transformations within the city which are allowing youth to begin claiming Ammaniness as both an identity and strategy. Finally, I conclude with opportunities for future research and my closing thoughts. My ethnographic approach to young people in the Middle East demonstrates how this understudied population is interconnected and urgently requires further examination. This dissertation contributes to filling this gap in knowledge about a critically important and growing population which is often misunderstood. Particularly, presenting stories of Ammanis across the socio-economic spectrum allows us to better understand the variety vi of ways urban youth are adapting to on-going social changes. This analysis of youths’ daily small political acts can assist in our understanding of larger social movements, which can promote greater effectiveness in future decisions about youth geopolitics. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Introduction: Ammani Youth in the Eye of the Storm ........................................................1 Chapter 1 Historical Context .............................................................................................26 Chapter 2 Literature Review: Urban Citizenship, Youth Geographies, and Feminist and Critical Geopolitics ............................................................................................................38 Chapter 3 Methodology ....................................................................................................65 Chapter 4 Mapping the City: Emblematic Cultural Spaces ...............................................77 Chapter 5 Situated Citizenship: How Geography, History, and Scale Qualify Ammani Youth in Jordanian National Discourse ............................................................124 Chapter 6 Fight or Flight: Juxtaposing Rights to the City with Aspirations Of Elsewhere ........................................................................................................................ 168 Chapter 7 Beyond Jordan’s Social Contract: Messages to Create Young Neoliberal Citizens ............................................................................................................................213 Chapter 8 Redefining Ammaniness: How Young People Are Contesting and Claiming Belonging to the City .......................................................................................259 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................292