Empty returns

Home and its unmaking during Greek-Cypriot refugee women's return visits

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3978381
AutoresChristakis Peristianis (0000-0002-7044-135X, University of Cyprus, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume25
Fascículo8
Páginas1291-1310
Data de publicação2024-09-13
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2023.2296479
OpenAlexW4390342943
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas83

The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus led to the division of the island between the Turkish-occupied north and the Greek-Cypriot Republic in the south. For approximately 30 years, the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities on the island were prohibited from 'crossing' to the other side. However, the relaxation of movement restrictions in 2003 provided an opportunity for many displaced persons from both communities to visit their former homes and villages once more. This paper explores the ways in which Greek-Cypriot refugee women experienced these return visits. It draws on oral history interviews to investigate how the physical return and re-experience of the refugee house has been significant to them and their understanding of home. The paper argues that the tension between the remembered and encountered home led to an inability to re-establish meaningful connections in terms of the refugee house, giving rise to a home-unmaking that questioned their association with it. The paper contributes to the existing literature regarding the ways in which home comes under question or is unmade, revealing how return and homecoming can damage previously associated meanings of home and have effects on how a dwelling is understood and experienced

Homecoming · Political science · Refugee · Sociology · Turkish · Gender Studies · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Urban Planning and Governance