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" Narratives of exile and identity : "
Nassari, John
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1098130
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| Doc. No
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TLets532662
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| Main Entry
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Nassari, John
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| Title & Author
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Narratives of exile and identity :\ Nassari, John
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| College
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University of East London
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| Date
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2007
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| student score
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2007
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This thesis examines the similarities and differences between exile experiences of InternalDisplaced People and Cypriot refugees in London. The study analyses oral history narrativesfrom Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who have been forced to leave their home becauseof the inter-communal conflict of the late 1960s and the war in Cyprus in 1974. The thesisconsiders the relationship between first-generation and second-generation narratives and howtheir stories are impacted by the hegemonies of national history and memory, which aredominant storylines in Cyprus. One of the aspects that the thesis considers is the question ofmemory and nostalgia and how possible it is for Cypriot refugees to develop counter narrativesthat disrupt the nationalism of state discourse. Central to the methodology is the importance ofthe dialogic construction of narratives and an autoethnographic approach, through which Iconsider my postmemory and my family's memory of our village in Cyprus, as a thirdgeneration British Cypriot.The thesis findings are that Cypriot refugees are ambivalent about their home and theiridentity. I propose that the term heterogeneity can enable an understanding of peoples' multipleidentifications with different places, times and cultural formations. The diverse intercommunal,cultural and social experiences in the metropolitan, London context gives rise to identitynarratives that diverge frdm the dominant, powerful, institutional and political discourses in thehomeland. The heterogeneous aspects of Cypriot identities extend to refugees in Cyprus aswell, making it difficult to standardise the Cypriot refugee experience. This problematisesresearch studies and thinking that essentialise and homogenise refugee identity. The thesiscontributes to debates on exilic subjectivities by problematising the common assumption thatrefugees are singularly nostalgic for the home that they were forced to leave. The study arguesthat refugee identities may be subject to change, exhibiting a variety of attachments andallegiances and that Cypriot refugees and their descendents have developed diverse practices ofnostalgia for home. This proposal puts into doubt the accuracy of theories of refugee identitywhich frame their arguments around the `amputee' model, a term I coin to describe the refugeediscourse that speaks in general terms of the refugee's desire to return home
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| Added Entry
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University of East London
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