This research examines how students at the German Jordanian University (GJU) imagine their futures, particularly in the context of the German Year program, which involves a semester abroad and an internship in Germany. Since young adults -and especially youth in Jordan's crisis-affected region - are underrepresented in future-oriented studies, the project fills an important gap. Using a one-year, multi-sited ethnographic case study, it explores how students negotiate and reshape their imagined futures over time and across borders. The study introduces the concept of doing future, emphasizing that the future is not a distant horizon but an ongoing, everyday practice actively shaped by individuals within social structures.

Autorentext

Norina Eliane Fischer (M.A. Intercultural Communication and European Studies) is the coordinator of the Fulda Graduate Centre of Social Sciences, where she completed her doctorate in social sciences with a focus on student mobility and the future of students at the German-Jordanian University.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Beyond Imagined Futures: Toward a Framework of Doing Future.- Following Students' Imagined Futures: Methodological Framework.- Transnationalism from the Top: The German Jordanian University.- Transnationalism from the Bottom: Students' Entry into the GJU.- Transnationalism Interrupted: Lived Experiences during the Covid-19 Pandemic.- Doing Future and the Imagined Post-Graduate Trajectory.- Doing Future and the Role of Place.- Doing Future and Love, Marriage, and Family.- Doing Future and the Actual Post-Graduate Trajectory.- Conclusion.