This project explores the genealogy of the Cyprus conflict with specific reference to the island's schizophrenic geography and its systematically distorted history. Particular attention is paid to the representation of the politics of space in order to redefine the relationship between prevalent nationalist narratives of history and possible fonns of resistance to them. Beginning with two short sections which highlight the roles of various states in the legislation of memories and the maintenance of physical boundaries, Chapter One provides a detailed exploration of the historical background for the internal and international dimensions of the conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. The second chapter analyses the conditions for the emergence of nationalist representations of history, while demonstrating how such narratives have been challenged by Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot individuals. This section also explores alternative ways of historicizing the conflict by discussing the effects of the violence on individuals, with the aim of problematizing assumptions about homogenous communities and generalized responses to the outcomes of the conflict. The third chapter examines a selection of poems by Turkish Cypriot writer Faize Ozdemirciler. This section is concerned with the symbol of the migrating poetic self in her poetry, particularly in terms of its role in the construction of a potential model for creatively rewriting a Cypriot nomadic self. More broadly, the chapter explores poetry as a medium for resistance. The conclusion examines the possibility of emancipation through a conception of self that is in theory against rigid structures and representations as the embodiment of meaning and rationality. The various strands of the thesis are interwoven through a derailed narrative which turns back on itself and goes against boundaries, beginnings, ends and truth telling in the absence of an essential (l)dentity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:539346 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Dagman, Asliye |
| Publisher | University of East Anglia |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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