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Studying conflicts in Cyprus : Lessons learned for conflict studies

Publication at Faculty of Social Sciences |
2018

Abstract

This concluding chapter of the book Cyprus and Its Conflicts: Representations, Materialities and Cultures argues that analyses of the Cypriot conflicts matter to conflict studies, and not only because they render this politicization of history visible through the presence of multiple histories, all circulating on a still rather small island. These analyses also show the long-lasting impact of cultural traumas caused by violence.

Moreover, the book's emphasis on the cultural dimension brings another important element to the foreground, as all too often conflict studies has focused on the more material dimensions of conflict. There is a need to acknowledge the discursive-cultural components of conflict.

Finally, the chapter argues that conflict studies can also benefit from a non-hierarchical approach to the discursive and the material that understands the relationship between the discursive and the material as a knot: both components are intrinsically, intensely and intimately interconnected, yet neither of the components is necessarily dominant.