My thesis is the product of an in-depth qualitative study of the ‘return' of British-born Cypriots to Cyprus. By specifically focusing on the second generation, my thesis seeks to rectify the lacuna in research on the second generation's connections to the ethnic homeland, capitalising on these migrants' positionalities with respect to questions of home and belonging. The thesis consists of eight chapters: Chapter 1 introduces the context in which the research was conducted; Chapter 2 provides the historical and geographical background for the Cypriot migration experience; Chapter 3 presents the methodological and ethical context in which my research was conducted; Chapters, 4, 5, 6 are the main empirical chapters, discussing the British-born Greek-Cypriot returnees' experiences, motives and viewpoints, from childhood memories to today's adult experiences; Chapter 7 provides an additional comparative angle through the inclusion of a subsample of British-born Turkish Cypriots; and finally, Chapter 8, my concluding chapter, revisits the research questions, draws comparisons with other empirical studies on second-generation return, and re-evaluates my methodological framework. Through the voices and life-narratives of second-generation British-Cypriot ‘return' migrants – following a biographical timeline – the multifaceted perspectives in which notions of ‘return', ‘home' and ‘belonging' can be viewed and experienced in a migratory context are revealed. My study shows the complexities and ambivalences involved when exploring ideas of ‘identity' and ‘return', views of ‘home', and feelings of ‘belonging' in the ancestral homeland – demonstrating how boundaries of such notions are blurred, eroded and re-established by a new generation of migrants, reflecting their time, experiences, choices and ideologies. My findings deconstruct the meaning of ‘return', move beyond the primordial cultural confines of notions of ‘belonging', and challenge the simple dichotomy of ‘home' versus ‘away', revealing new similarities (and differences) beyond such predefined labels and categories, which form the building blocks for new, contemporary, ways and spaces of belonging.

L’Orient de la Princesse Bibesco comporte plusieurs facettes et dépasse la dimension spatiale. Dans cette recherche, nous avons abordé premièrement une expérience « antérieure » à l’existence terrestre de Marthe, dévoilée dans ses mémoires– La Nymphe Europe. Livre I. Mes vies antérieures . Cette première partie nous l’avons appelée l’Orient historique/ hérité. Ensuite, notre recherche met en question un Orient créé (au palais de Mogoşoaia, sa résidence roumaine qu’elle appelle « un coin d’Orient »), un autre Orient vécu et idéalisé dans des notes de voyages où elle se montre plutôt une observatrice subjective et parfois critique. Finalement un Orient conservé est dévoilé dans le folklore roumain représentant d’une part, le retour aux sources de l’humanité et d’autre part, l’élément exotique pour le public étranger. La vocation pour cette culture est constante dans la plupart des œuvres bibesciennes et exploitée sous différentes formes. Ce concept n’aura jamais dans son œuvre un sens dépréciatif, bien au contraire. Marthe Bibesco cherche la légende, le charme, le mirage orientaux. Pour elle le terme Orient ne désigne pas cet espace clos d’où tout le monde veut s’évader, mais la terre authentique, capable d’offrir à l’explorateur le plus beau spectacle. / Princess Marthe Bibesco’s Orient enfolds many facets and it rises above the spatial dimension. In our research, we have especially centred round the “historical” or the “inherited” Orient, identified in her memoirs La Nymphe Europe. Livre I. Mes vies antérieures , and the “created” Orient (at Mogosoaia Palace, her Romanian residence). The second part of the research paper emphasizes the “experienced”/ “real” Orient as space narrated in her notes on travelling where the Princess proved to be a subjective observer and rarely a critic. At last, the Orient appears as “preserved” in the Romanian folklore. The latter represents on one hand, the return to origins and on the other hand, it becomes the exotic element for the foreign audience. The vocation for this culture is constantly found in Bibesco’s work and exploited in many different ways. This concept will never have a disparaging sense, on the contrary. Marthe Bibesco is in search of legend, charm, oriental mirage. For her the term “Orient” does not suggest closed space, but authentic territory, capable of offering to the explorer the most spectacular performance.