CTIS Research Seminar - Experiencing the Uninhabited Traumascape of a Divided Capital: An Ethnographic Investigation of Nicosia’s UN-controlled Buffer Zone
| Dates: | 20 November 2025 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:30 |
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| What is it: | Talk |
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| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
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| Speaker: | Dr Christiana Themistocleous |
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Cyprus and Nicosia, its capital, have been divided since the 1974 war. A buffer zone divides the two communities and is controlled by the UN Peace Keeping Force. It has abandoned buildings scarred from the war and physical borders. All these objects serve as tangible evidence of division and make this space a dystopic traumascape. After 30 years of complete separation, the ease of movement restrictions in 2003 saw Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots crossing into each other’s community through various crossing-points across the buffer zone. The Ledras/Lokmac? crossing-point in central Nicosia is the focus of this investigation. Recent research shows that the language of the other, namely Greek and Turkish, are excluded from each community’s Linguistic Landscape (LL), which according to Themistocleous (2019) and Themistocleous, Çavu?oglu & Özkara (2023) reflects nationalist ideologies. However, the LL of the Ledras/Lokmac? crossing-point is different, as multilingual signs that contain the language of the other are displayed on the abandoned buildings of the buffer zone (Themistocleous, 2020; 2021).
This study builds on this previous work. It explores further this traumascape, obtaining in this case insights from local residents. The aim is to understand how they experience and evaluate the space in 'No man’s land'. Walking-tour semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot participants representing three generations (60+; 30-40; 18-23). A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that responses to the LL are complex and fluid within and between groups. Contradicting responses can be attributed to the complexity of the traumascape itself, as well as the participants’ past experiences, psychological and emotional complexities and their political and ideological stances in relation to the conflict.
This activity is hybrid, and Dr Christiana Themistocleous (University of Reading) will present online. The audience could join via Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/NEleYt_pRHKI5y31HvWA1g
Speaker
Dr Christiana Themistocleous
Role: Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics
Organisation: University of Reading
Biography: She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Manchester. Her research interests fall within the areas of sociolinguistics, multilingualism, linguistic landscapes and media. She is the co-author of the book ‘Introducing Language and Society’ which was published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. Her current work, which explores the role languages in conflict zones, has been funded by the British Academy.
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