Making histories : nationalism, colonialism and the uses of the past on Cyprus
This research was born out of a need for me to know, as a London-born Greek Cypriot, why the archaeology and history of my place of origin have no shades of grey. The history I learned at school â British school â was fluid, it was about how different actors felt, why they did things; we learnt role play and empathy. At home, and in Greek school, history was black and white, them vs us, Turks vs Greeks and this was the way it had been throughout history. I wanted to known and understand history, not have it ask me questions. I went to university to study archaeology, hoping that by studying the distant past I would find my answers, but I just found more questions. The central research questions of this thesis are: what effect do political events have on state representations of the archaeological and historical record? How can these be analysed? What effect does politics have on archaeology as practiced in Cyprus? This research has addressed these questions by focusing on state uses of the past in Cyprus from 1878 until the present through the analysis of education, the mass media and tourism. The central premise is that states are involved in the creation and maintenance of national and group identities
Michael, Angela Stella
JA Political science (General) ; DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World ; CC Archaeology
Making histories : nationalism, colonialism and the uses of the past on Cyprus. This research was born out of a need for me to know, as a London-born Greek Cypriot, why the archaeology and history of my place of origin have no shades of grey. The history I learned at school â British school â was fluid, it was about how different actors felt, why they did things; we learnt role play and empathy. At home, and in Greek school, history was black and white, them vs us, Turks vs Greeks and this was the way it had been throughout history. I wanted to known and understand history, not have it ask me questions. I went to university to study archaeology, hoping that by studying the distant past I would find my answers, but I just found more questions. The central research questions of this thesis are: what effect do political events have on state representations of the archaeological and historical record? How can these be analysed? What effect does politics have on archaeology as practiced in Cyprus? This research has addressed these questions by focusing on state uses of the past in Cyprus from 1878 until the present through the analysis of education, the mass media and tourism. The central premise is that states are involved in the creation and maintenance of national and group identities
making history nationalism colonialism past cyprus bear need know london born greek_cypriot archaeology history place_origin shade grey history learn school british school fluid different actor felt thing learnt role_play empathy home greek school_history black white turks greeks way throughout_history want known history ask_question university study archaeology hop study distant past would answer find question central_question effect political_event state representation archaeological_historical record analyse_effect politics archaeology practice cyprus addressed question focus state past cyprus present_analysis education mass_medium tourism central premise state involve_creation maintenance national group_identity