| Summary/Abstract |
This article investigates Greek Cypriot ‘discourses of resistance’ to potential revisions of history textbooks as part of a wider peace education process. Although changing history textbooks towards a more inclusive and pluralistic narrative is arguably a necessary step for a sustainable peace, efforts to do so have met with strong resistance and ultimately failed. Existing studies have illuminated the problematic historical content of these textbooks and often point towards the controversies raised, but rarely do they offer an in-depth analysis of these discourses about textbooks. This study seeks to fill this gap by deconstructing these ‘discourses of resistance’ to reach a deeper understanding of why this aspect of peacebuilding has failed. Empirical findings through an analysis of interviews, policy documents, newspapers, speeches and circulars indicate a pronounced link between education and security, which has until recently remained at the periphery of peacebuilding research. Discourses of resistance present changes to history textbooks as a betrayal and threat to the nationalist struggle, a process I argue constitutes the securitisation of history textbooks.
|