Based on research conducted from September 2008 through June 2011, this thesis explores the construction of gender and sexuality identities in Cyprus vis-à-vis the socio-political, legal and cultural context within which it is enabled or inhibited. More specifically, it examines how predominant discourses of nationhood and national identity as well as the processes, norms, institutions and mechanisms of Europeanization, affect local approaches to the relationship between national identity, gender and sexuality. -- Chronologically, the thesis covers the period between the early 1990s - when a Cypriot gay man brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights against the Republic of Cyprus - up to the present. However, it also makes references to the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of the island, as well as to the events that preceded and followed it, since these have been determinative of the importance assigned to Cypriot national identity narratives by local actors. -- Part of the data examined includes fifty-five interviews with prelates of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Greek-Cypriot political elites, military officials, representatives of women’s groups, as well as Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer individuals and activists. Through the utilization of a research design that draws on Foucaultian analysis, queer theory, law and national identity studies, the thesis argues that the Cypriot discursive landscape both restricts and enables the negotiation and reconfiguration of identity-formation processes. Namely, although nationalistic, androcentric, patriarchical and heterocentric essentialisms continue to permeate the Cypriot socio-political milieu, nationalism is characterized both by inherent contradictions and by the ability to reinvent itself.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:628094 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Kamenou, Nayia |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/cyprus-is-the-country-of-heroes-not-of-homosexuals(e4b520c7-ec54-407b-93f2-db74526e3090).html |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds