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The discursive (re)construction of national identity in Cyprus and England with special reference to history textbooks : a comparative study

Klerides, Loris Eleftherios; (2008) The discursive (re)construction of national identity in Cyprus and England with special reference to history textbooks : a comparative study. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London. Green open access

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Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of national identity construction in Cyprus and England in two historical times: the period following the Greek and Turkish military offensives in Cyprus (1974-93), and the period of the Conservative administration in Britain (1979-97). It examines identity formations in history textbooks across the two settings and addresses their relationship with intellectual and political constructs of identity. These periods were moments of a metamorphosis of identity in both settings. This identity reconstruction was firstly materialised in the signifying practices of politicians and intellectuals. As an effect of the emergence ofnew nationalist discourses in the political and intellectual fields was the production of new history textbooks, making it possible for the national image to be also reconstituted in and through them. New identities were articulated in the field of school history but their redefinition varied within and across the two settings. Variations within each setting were primarily determined by the particular features of the social domain in which the construction of identity took place. Across the settings, they were mainly shaped by different genres of school history writing. Despite their differences, the new identities across the two cultural settings and social fields shared certain similar motifs - fragmentation, hybridity and ambivalence. It is therefore suggested that the making of identity in history textbooks cannot be understood by focusing solely on textbooks. Knowledge of the specificities of the historical, the intellectual, the political and the educational layers of the context in which they are embedded as well as the complex linkages between identifications articulated in these layers, is required. Based on this finding, this thesis attempts to formulate a theoretical model that enhances the understanding ofhow national identity is produced, sustained, transformed and dismantled discursively in history textbooks.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Title: The discursive (re)construction of national identity in Cyprus and England with special reference to history textbooks : a comparative study
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: http://ethos.bl.uk/ProcessSearch.do?query=498300
Language: English
Additional information: Leaves 293-296 are appendices
Keywords: Cyprus,Cultural identity,Nationality,Nationalism,History,Textbooks
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10019301
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