One Island, Many Histories: Rethinking the Politics of the Past in Cyprus

One Island, Many Histories:
Rethinking the Politics of the Past in Cyprus
A conference sponsored by Peace Research International Oslo (PRIO) Cyprus
Centre
21-24 November 2008, Nicosia, Cyprus

One of the most divisive elements of the Cyprus conflict is the writing of
Cyprus’ history.  That history has been dominated by the two main
communities, Greek and Turkish, who have written very different versions of the
past five hundred years in the island.  Those differing narrative strands have
often come into conflict and have constituted one of the major impediments to
reconciliation.  At the same time, the dominance of these nationalist
narratives has led to the exclusion of other groups, of other histories, and of
other narrative possibilities.  This conference aims to investigate how those
narratives have emerged, how they are reproduced, and what questions we might
ask about the production of those narratives that would help us reorient
history writing from a form of division to a form of dialogue.

With this aim in mind, the conference is organized around a set of
methodological and historiographical questions.  Because the questions that
historians ask shape the results that they find, this conference proposes that
new questions are important for a new orientation.  Through this
historiographical approach, we seek to investigate the ways in which history is
and has been written in the island, as well as what new ways of thinking about
the past may be productive for the future.

Because the initial point of diversion for the island’s hegemonic histories
is 1571, the conference concentrates on the Ottoman, British, and postcolonial
periods.  We seek proposals from historians and social scientists working on
the following themes:

1.  Concepts of belonging: Beyond dichotomous identities?
Histories of Cyprus have often questioned the emergence or transformation of
identities in the island.  “Identity,” however, implies sameness and is
defined by difference.  In the current context, this means that polls in both
sides of the island attempt to measure the extent to which persons living in
Cyprus feel “Turkish,” “Greek,” “Cypriot,” or a combination of
these.  Such concepts of identity, furthermore, are often written back into
Cyprus’ history to explain the meanings of difference even in the period
before nationalisms became hegemonic in the island.  How might we rethink the
meanings of identity and difference in a pre-nationalist period?  And can the
concepts of identity currently in use in the academic literature about Cyprus
really encompass or exhaust peoples’ senses of belonging to the island?  What
other concepts might be employed to think, both historically and currently,
about those senses of belonging?

2.  Historical traumas and collective memory
There are certain events in all communities of the island that may be
considered “historical traumas,” or traumatic events that play an important
role in their collective memory as a people.  These include, for instance, the
hanging of the archbishop and clergy in 1821; the massacre of Muslims in Crete
in 1897; and the Armenian Genocide of 1915.  This panel asks how we might
understand the formation of such events as historical traumas; their
reproduction in collective memory; and the influence of such historical traumas
on the writing of history.

3.  Other histories and “others’” histories
The hegemony of the two main nationalist narratives in the island has left
little historical space for other groups, whether linguistic, religious, or
ideological.  The two primary histories have, moreover, been dominated by
masculinist narratives that emphasize relations of power and moments of
conflict.  In what way might other histories contribute to a rethinking of the
politics of history, as well as the history of politics, in Cyprus?

4.  Writing official histories
This panel seeks to turn a historiographical gaze specifically to the 1960-74
period, asking how the divisive official histories of that period have been
written.  We seek here to investigate the conditions of those histories’
production, looking at the specific moments in which what came to be the
“official” versions of those histories emerged.  What are the particular
conditions in which certain narratives appeared to reflect Cypriot realities? 
How did those narratives take on institutional form?  And what forms of
critique were brought at the moment of their emergence?

5.  Official vs. unofficial histories
While official histories have often been studied and recognized as such, less
attention has been given to the formation of “unofficial” histories,
despite the fact that these are often histories that are as well known and well
formulated as the “official” ones.  The history of the Left on both sides
of the island, for instance, falls under the heading of “unofficial”
history even as its stories are equally well known.  In addition, in the
“official” vs. “unofficial” dichotomy, the “unofficial” often
acquires the meaning of a hidden “truth” that “official” histories have
denied.  Is this, in fact, what “unofficial” histories represent?  Might
there also be other ways of thinking about histories that oppose the main
nationalist narratives?

6.  Popular histories
Popular histories are those ways of explaining the past that may interweave
with legends, myths, rumor, and other forms of folk narrative.  One
particularly potent form of popular history in Cyprus has been the conspiracy
theory, but urban legends and the power of rumor have been equally important in
shaping the ways in which Cypriots perceive histories, especially local ones. 
This panel asks what the role of such histories may be in shaping popular
discourse, and how such popular histories may in turn influence the writing of
academic histories in the island.

7.  Social imagination in the post-74 period and its influence on history
writing
Apart from popular histories, one of the factors shaping academic history in
Cyprus is what Charles Taylor has called “social imaginaries,” or “that
largely unstructured and inarticulate understanding of our whole situation,
within which particular features of our world show up for us in the sense they
have.”  Such social imaginaries may include forms of discourse, as well as
institutions that form the landscapes of daily life.  This panel asks what
social imaginaries, or concepts naturalized as a type of social background,
have shaped histories of Cyprus in the post-74 period.

8.  Is there a space for subaltern studies in Cyprus?
The past twenty years has seen the emergence of subaltern studies, a branch of
historical theory that investigates the conditions of colonialism, including
both colonial consciousness and the consciousness of the colonized.  In
contrast to subaltern studies’ focus on the social history of the colonial
period, Cyprus’ colonial history has been dominated by an elite history that
leaves little room for investigation of the emergence of discourses, or forms
of power and knowledge.  What are the reasons for this dominance of elite
history?  How has it affected our understanding of social movements in the
island?  And is there anything that we might learn from other colonial
historians’ focus on forms of consciousness that emerge in the colonial
period?

Practical information:
The conference will take place over in the buffer zone of Nicosia, Cyprus, over
two days, 21-22 November, with a third day, 24 November, set aside for closed
workshops amongst meeting participants.  We are currently seeking funding for
participants’ travel and accommodation and hope to be able to cover most of
participants’ expenses.

In order to facilitate both workshop discussions and the later publication of
an edited volume, participants will be required to send completed papers
(approx. 7500 words) by 10 November.  Within the framework of the conference
itself, participants will be expected to summarize those papers’ findings for
a general audience.

Please send abstracts of no more than 150 words to:

Rebecca Bryant
Associate Professor of Anthropology
George Mason University
Rbryant2@gmu.edu

Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 10 August 2008.