Identity in Conflict An Exploration of Gender across Ethnicity in Cyprus
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
The protracted ethnic conflict in Cyprus has meant that life on the island is typically framed in terms of ethnicity, putting the main communities – Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot – before all other communities and identities, including gender. As society focuses on the conflict, social and human rights issues, such as the discrimination and abuses experienced by women, especially foreign women, are often viewed as being unique to their economic standing and not reflecting Cypriot society or gender and social dynamics. This study incorporated a diverse sample of mostly women from varying identities including ethnicity, gender, race, sexual orientation, and immigration status, in order to understand gender consciousness and discrimination in the greater context. Through an analysis of interviews and observations, this article contributes to current scholarship by using a holistic approach and providing an opportunity to redefine notions of community in Cyprus.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Cyprus, ethnic conflict, gender identity, intersectionality, domestic workers, gender consciousness
Anastasiou, H. (2006) The Broken Olive Branch: Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and the Quest for Peace in Cyprus. New York: Syracuse University Press.
Cockburn, C. (2004) The Line: Women, Partition and the Gender Order in Cyprus. London: Zed Books.
Constantinou, C.M. (2007) ‘Aporias of Identity: Bicommunalism, Hybridity and the “Cyprus Problem”’, Cooperation and Conflict, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 247–270.
Coureas, N., Varnava, A. and Elia, M. (eds) Online Abstract, The Minorities of Cyprus: Development Patterns and the Identity of the Internal-Exclusion, pp. 241–265. Available at [http://www.c-sp.org/flyers/The-Minorities-of-Cyprus—Development-Patterns-and-the-Identity-of-the-Internal-Exclusion1-4438-0052-X.htm], accessed on 2 January 2013.
Güven-Lisaniler, F., U¤ural, S. and Rodriguez, L. (2008) ‘Human Rights of Migrant Women Workers in Janitorial Services and Night Clubs: A Case of North Cyprus’, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 435–448.
Hadjipavlou, M. (2009) ‘Trans-Border Crossings: Cypriot Women’s “Liberation” and the Margins’, The Cyprus Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 59–80.
Hadjipavlou, M. (2004) Women in the Cypriot Communities. Cyprus: The Peace Center.
Kamenou, N. (2011) ‘Queer in Cyprus: National Identity and the Construction of Gender and Sexuality’, in Downing, L. and Gillet, R. (eds), Queer in Cyprus: Contemporary Case Studies. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, pp. 25–40.
Killoran, M. (1998) ‘Good Muslims and “Bad Muslims,” “Good” Women and Feminists: Negotiating Identities in Northern Cyprus (Or, The Condom Story)’, Ethos, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 183–203.
Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies (2007) Integration of Female Migrant Domestic Workers: Strategies for Employment and Civic Participation. Nicosia: University of Nicosia Press.
Panayi, P. (2009) ‘Ethnic Minority Creation in Modern Europe: Cyprus in Context’, in Varnava, A., Coureas, N. and Elia, M. (eds), The Minorities of Cyprus: Development Pattern and the Identity of the Internal-Exclusion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 1–25.
Sainsbury, S. (2007) ‘The Silent Presence: Asian Female Domestic Workers and Cyprus in the New Europe’, presented at Performing Identity/Crossing Borders conference.
Sharoni, S. (2001) ‘Rethinking Women’s Struggles in Israel-Palestine and in the North of Ireland’, in Moser, C. and Clark, F. (eds), Victims, Perpetrators or Actors: Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence. London: Zed, pp. 85–98.
Solsten, E. (ed.) (1991) ‘Cyprus: A Country Study’, Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, available at [http://countrystudies.us/cyprus/25.htm], accessed on 2 January 2013.
Trimikliniotis, N. and Demetriou, C. (2009) ‘The Cypriot Roma and the Failure of Education: Anti-Discrimination and Multiculturalism as a Post-accession Challenge’, in Varnava, A, Coureas, N. and Elia, M. (eds), The Minorities of Cyprus: Development Patterns and the Identity of the Internal-Exclusion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 241–265.
UN Women (2011) ‘About UN Women’, available at [http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/about-unwomen/], accessed on 2 January 2013.
Vassiliadou, M. (2002) ‘Questioning Nationalism: The Patriarchal and National Struggles of Cypriot Women within a European Context’, The European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 459–482.
Vassiliadou, M. (2004) ‘Women’s Constructions of Women: On Entering the Front Door’, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 53–67.
Yucel, M. (2006) ‘Women Trafficking in the Turkish Cypriot Community’, Prologue Consulting Ltd., available at [http://repository.forcedmigration.org/show_metadata.jsp?pid=fmo:4919], accessed on 2 January 2013.
Copyright: © University of Nicosia, Cyprus
All rights reserved.
No restrictions on photo-copying.
Quotations from The Cyprus Review are welcome, but acknowledgement of the source must be given.