Tracking Aspirations: Neoliberal Education and Mobility for Cambodian Youth
Anthropology & Education Quarterly
Published online on February 12, 2026
Abstract
["Anthropology &Education Quarterly, Volume 57, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nDrawing on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Cambodia, this article focuses on secondary students who aspire to social and spatial mobility. It examines how a subject‐based tracking system intersects with other facets of the educational landscape to stratify students along class lines. In doing so, it highlights how educational practices rooted in neoliberal logics can bolster some youths' aspirations more than others, but that these inequalities can be masked by discourses of choice.\n"]