Imagining the Modern: The Cultures of Nationalism in Cyprus [Paperback]

Rebecca Bryant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2004 | ISBN-10: 185043462X | ISBN-13: 978-1850434627

This book argues that two conflicting styles of nationalist imagination led to the violent rending of Cyprus in 1974 and sustained that division over decades. Based on comparative research in both southern and northern Cyprus, the work demonstrates how the conflict emerged through Cypriots' encounters with modernity under British colonialism, and through a consequent re-imagining of the body politic in a new world in which Cypriots were defined as part of a European periphery. The book describes how Muslims and Christians in Cyprus were transformed into Turks and Greeks, and what it meant--epistemologically, ontologically, and politically--when they were.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rebecca Bryant's study demonstrates a most unusual depth and balance in its account of the dual nationalisms in Cyprus and of the progress towards conflict. Few scholars have studied both communities in equal depth. Bryant has asked herself how and why ethnic nationalisms in colonial Cyprus succeeded in transforming late Ottoman Christians and Muslims into violent antagonists. In these modern encounters, the nationalists on both sides insisted first that they were Greeks or Turks, secondly, that the island self-evidently 'belonged' exclusively to only one of them. Her answers are subtle, having much to do with the nature of modernity-through-education, with literacy, social discipline, a moralized self, and certain kinds of history. Her understanding of the connection between education and national/ethnic identification is profound, bold and original."--Peter Loizos, London School of Economics and Political Science

About the Author

Rebecca Bryant is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University and is engaged in research on place and memory in Cyprus.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (September 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185043462X
• ISBN-13: 978-1850434627
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,920,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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