Suchergebnisse

This thesis is interested in the relationship between media and national identies in divided Cyprus. It explores how the mainstream media constructed national identifications during a period of intense negotiations for peace settlement, known as "the Annan period", and the ways in which individual Greek-Cypriots perceive that they used ideas of the nation and national identifications during the said period. In doing so the thesis critically examines the development of media constructed national identities vis-à-vis hegemonic tropes used to explain identity in Cyprus and in particular the Cyprocentrist-Hellenocentrist antagonism. The thesis approaches national identities as processes of "imagining" which are not static perceptions of who one is but may change or be modified in time. Over the last 40 years in Cyprus, the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot communities have been locked in ongoing yet unsuccessful negotiations for a peace settlement. During most of the post-1974 period, the conflict has been a "calm" one. Focusing in particular on the Greek-Cypriot community, the thesis approaches negotiations as both routine and crisis news events. It foregrounds empirically how, in times of progress in the negotiations, the disputed settlement assumes a media epicentre of national identity discourses which draw and amplify more routinely prevalent national identity discourses. Based on a qualitative analysis and drawing on literature in nationalism and media studies, the thesis has uncovered the complex ways the "national" we was used during the period studied. It shows how media-projected norms of national conformity either closed or shifted the boundaries of we: on the one hand the us/ other binary homogenized opponents but also ourselves and on the other hand the boundaries of we opened up to include the other. The study confirms that neither Cyprocentrism nor Hellenocentrism, are static boundary formations of us and the other. By contrast, media discursive shifts between Hellenocentrism and Cyprocentrism, revealed that the confrontation between nation and state, as two antagonistic nationalistic codes, was not prominent in the said period. The study provides evidence however of exclusionary Cyprocentric constructions of identity premised primarily on uses of the state as a symbolic wall cementing the boundaries of we. In this regard, we explore constructions in the media of the Turkish-Cypriot community as an "absent/present" other as its interests and needs were tailored to project Greek-Cypriots' own wishes. Yet, the thesis highlights the dislocation of the master dichotomy of us vs. other in media representations during the events which followed the relaxation of bizonal movement restrictions in April 2003. Building on Greek-Cypriots' own accounts, the thesis concludes that, overall, national imaginings across and within communities become a "political prison" of the ethnic "other", who becomes an absent/present "other". But the community doing the "imagining" also tends to remain trapped within such conceptualisations: Participants of the study, about ten years after the referenda, understood the antagonism between Hellenocentrists and Cyprocentrists as being part of political elites' own struggles for power still many explained how they could not go beyond nationally instigated perceptions about the other or the conflict. Yet this "imprisonment" is neither static nor should it be taken for granted, as there are instances during which otherwise powerful national identifications may break down and unravel in different directions. Additionally, the study shows a novel meta-analysis of nationalism and national identities from the perspective of individuals and in this context we provide evidence of an identity "fatigue" which problematizes further ideas on the naturalization of national identity. Overall, the thesis in answering the central research questions guiding the study, puts forward a claim and an assumption for further investigation. The claim manifested is that Cyprocentrism and Hellenocentrism were not necessarily antithetical during the Annan Period. The assumption is that it is possible in the future, for exclusionary and inclusionary tendencies within Cypriotism to become antagonistic. The exclusionary form tends to focus on civic identity to exclude other communities, not necessarily the Turkish-Cypriots who are in a way often included in this imagining as their presence fortifies the sovereignty of the state. On the other hand, inclusionary Cypriotism, despite emphasizing Cypriotness, remains tolerant towards others. Nevertheless, emphasis on the state should be addressed in other contexts as not merely related to a "civic" identity but also a cultural one. ; Member of the committee (President): Professor Nicos Demertzis, Associate Professor Christopher Kyriakides, Associate Professor Nicos Trimikliniotis

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been largely absent from dominant social debates in Cyprus. In a socially conservative country, with prevailing heteronormative and patriarchic norms, discussion around issues of sexuality in general and sexual orientation in particular, has been taboo. This has resulted in a lack of visibility and meaningful social and media debate around LGBT people and issues that concern them (Tryfonidou, 2017). From 2010 onward issues of discrimination and harassment towards LGBT started becoming increasingly discussed in the public arena. Relevant legal developments, accelerated by the 2004 Republic of Cyprus's (RoC) accession into the European Union (henceforth EU) and by the pioneering of the LGBT NGO called ACCEPT, led to more visibility of LGBT issues in the public sphere (Phellas, Kapsou, Epameinonda, 2014), reflected also in increasing media attention (Kapsou, Christophi & Epaminonda, 2011). Events such as the Pride Festivals from 2014 onwards, contributed significantly in promoting public attention around LGBT issues. Despite these important developments, the social debate remains limited and polarized and is frequently driven by statements of important public figures, and predominantly by Church representatives. These figures often promote a representation of same-sex relationships as highly deviant, abnormal and problematic and thus contribute to an ongoing marginalization and discrimination of LGBT people. The social climate around LGBT issues also reflects that there is room for improving social acceptance and respect of LGBT rights (European Commission, 2015) while there are still pressing legal issues to be addressed (Tryfonidou, 2017). Although academic attention around these issues has increased significantly during the last few years (i.e. Kamenou, 2012; Onoufriou, 2009; Phellas, 2005), there is still need for scientific, empirically grounded research. Our aim in this report is to provide an empirically-grounded examination of the ways that media ...

In this article we bring a critical social-psychological approach to the study of sexual citizenship. This approach seeks to understand how citizenship is constructed through ideological resources and negotiated in local contexts. We do so by studying newspaper representations of the Civil Union (CU) law in the Cypriot context. This law represented a major legal development for a largely heteronormative, patriarchic social context and sparked debate around sexual rights in general. We analysed 82 opinion articles that appeared in four newspapers of different political orientations between 2011 and 2015, through thematic and critical discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that CU was debated in terms of two oppositional themes. The first theme debated whether CU protects universal rights or introduces special rights, which are either not deserved or create inequality. The second theme approached the CU law as a sign of a much-needed societal progress or as a sign of decline and national degeneration. We show how these themes draw upon two broader ideological dilemmas, that of universalism versus particularism and that of Occidentalism versus Orientalism, and discuss the implications of these ideological streams in constructing the boundaries of citizenship for LGBT+ in this context.

This paper presents a thematic analysis of a media criticism against the European Union (EU) during the so-called 2015 refugee crisis in one member-state, the Republic of Cyprus. Three inter-related negative representations of Europe were identified in the Greek-Cypriot newspapers studied at the time: inhuman Europe, fragmented Europe and Europe as perpetrator. All three represented Europe as unable or unwilling to deal with a crisis that Europe itself partly caused or reproduced. This media criticism focused on questioning Europe across pessimistic lines without offering or considering alternatives, thus served to reproduce the EU status quo. The paper discusses the implications of these findings in understanding the role of the media in the con-current skepticism towards EU in other member-states.

Continuous and increasing worldwide migration has sparked an intense social debate in multiple forums. Media play a key role in constructing, monitoring, and framing this debate. This study focuses on a qualitative analysis of the media debate around migration in Cyprus via (a) studying how migrants are represented in the Greek Cypriot Press and (b) assessing, the extent and the way in which favorable and unfavorable representations around migration are in dialogue. Toward this end, thematic and dialogical analyses were conducted on articles published in 4 daily Greek Cypriot newspapers between 2011 and 2015. Findings showed that migrants were constructed in economic (e.g., as assets to economy) and humanitarian (e.g. as victims) terms in the favorable representations, whereas in the unfavorable ones, migrants were constructed primarily as a threat to the local economy, to security, and to the nation's culture and existence. In terms of the relation between the 2. favorable representations engaged more clearly and in more detail with alternative representations of migrants than unfavorable ones. Favorable representations focused more on countering negative representations of migrants while unfavorable representations focused more on countering negative representations of the authors (e.g., being racist), through disclaimers. Nevertheless, authors of favorable representations managed alternatives by stigmatizing those who held opposing views and did not elaborate on their arguments. These findings speak to the superficial and polarizing character of the debate and point to implications for further research on the relation between the different stances on migration in other forums such as social media and TV.