Title:
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Narratives of exile and identity : experiences of Turkish and Greek Cypriot refugees in Cyprus and London
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This thesis examines the similarities and differences between exile experiences of Internal
Displaced People and Cypriot refugees in London. The study analyses oral history narratives
from Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who have been forced to leave their home because
of the inter-communal conflict of the late 1960s and the war in Cyprus in 1974. The thesis
considers the relationship between first-generation and second-generation narratives and how
their stories are impacted by the hegemonies of national history and memory, which are
dominant storylines in Cyprus. One of the aspects that the thesis considers is the question of
memory and nostalgia and how possible it is for Cypriot refugees to develop counter narratives
that disrupt the nationalism of state discourse. Central to the methodology is the importance of
the dialogic construction of narratives and an autoethnographic approach, through which I
consider my postmemory and my family's memory of our village in Cyprus, as a third
generation British Cypriot.
The thesis findings are that Cypriot refugees are ambivalent about their home and their
identity. I propose that the term heterogeneity can enable an understanding of peoples' multiple
identifications with different places, times and cultural formations. The diverse intercommunal,
cultural and social experiences in the metropolitan, London context gives rise to identity
narratives that diverge frdm the dominant, powerful, institutional and political discourses in the
homeland. The heterogeneous aspects of Cypriot identities extend to refugees in Cyprus as
well, making it difficult to standardise the Cypriot refugee experience. This problematises
research studies and thinking that essentialise and homogenise refugee identity. The thesis
contributes to debates on exilic subjectivities by problematising the common assumption that
refugees are singularly nostalgic for the home that they were forced to leave. The study argues
that refugee identities may be subject to change, exhibiting a variety of attachments and
allegiances and that Cypriot refugees and their descendents have developed diverse practices of
nostalgia for home. This proposal puts into doubt the accuracy of theories of refugee identity
which frame their arguments around the `amputee' model, a term I coin to describe the refugee
discourse that speaks in general terms of the refugee's desire to return home
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