BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
METHOD:PUBLISH
PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.4//EN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Eastern Standard Time
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20251102T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11
TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20250301T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3
TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DESCRIPTION:The Anthropology Department welcomes Jennifer Estes to deliver
her lecture “The Speculative Labor of Schooling: Pursuing Middle-Class Fut
ures in Cambodia.”Across the globe\, young people are encouraged to invest
in education as a pathway to economic security and upward mobility\, even
as the costs of schooling rise. Drawing on ethnographic research in rural
Cambodia\, Estes's talk focuses on the speculative labor that students un
dertake in pursuit of middle-class futures. \;She will explore how the
privatization of state secondary schooling compels youth to make careful
decisions about where to invest their time\, money\, and attention in hope
s of securing future economic returns. Estes will also examine how narrati
ves of meritocracy sustain the idea that education will pay off in the lon
g run\, and how the labor of speculation extends across multiple family me
mbers. In doing so\, she argues that the speculative labor of schooling re
flects and reproduces class inequalities\, while putting the meaning of ed
ucation itself at stake.Jennifer Estes\, Ph.D.\, is a senior lecturer in t
he Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of
Singapore. Her first book\, \;Betting on Education: The Costs of Schoo
ling for Cambodian Youth\, \;was published by Rutgers University Press
in 2026. Her current project explores the politics of development finance
in Cambodia's education sector.
DTEND:20261113T210000Z
DTSTAMP:20261104T080300Z
DTSTART:20261113T200000Z
LOCATION:
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:The Speculative Labor of Schooling: Pursuing Middle-Class Futures i
n Cambodia
UID:RFCALITEM639293581803331714
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Anthropology Department welcomes Jennif
er Estes to deliver her lecture “The Speculative Labor of Schooling: Pursu
ing Middle-Class Futures in Cambodia.”
Across the globe\, young peop
le are encouraged to invest in education as a pathway to economic security
and upward mobility\, even as the costs of schooling rise. Drawing on eth
nographic research in rural Cambodia\, Estes's talk focuses on th
e speculative labor that students undertake in pursuit of middle-class fut
ures. \;She will explore how the privatization of state secondary
schooling compels youth to make careful decisions about where to invest t
heir time\, money\, and attention in hopes of securing future economic ret
urns.
Estes will also examine how narratives of meritoc
racy sustain the idea that education will pay off in the long run\, and ho
w the labor of speculation extends across multiple family members. In doin
g so\, she argues that the speculative labor of schooling reflects and rep
roduces class inequalities\, while putting the meaning of education itself
at stake.
Jennifer Estes\, Ph.D.\, is a senior lecturer in t
he Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of
Singapore. Her first book\, \;Betting on Education: The Costs of S
chooling for Cambodian Youth\, \;was published by Rutgers Univers
ity Press in 2026. Her current project explores the politics of developmen
t finance in Cambodia's education sector.
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR