Colonial Cyprus

A Cultural History

Maria Hadjiathanasiou, Andreas Karyos, Emilios A. Solomou

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2024
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780755640652
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: History of Architecture
• Index: Politics & International Relations

An original, innovative, and timely study on the cultural history of Cyprus under British rule, offering a new interpretative framework for studying the island's colonial past. The book focuses on the often-overlooked cultural dimensions of the island's colonial experience and demonstrates the crucial role culture played in shaping its historical trajectory and future. This is the first volume to explore various aspects of the island's cultural life from 1878, when it transitioned from Ottoman to British rule, until the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. It features a series of thematic chapters by female authors, focusing on photography, architecture, literature, theatre, art and collecting, cultural policy, advertising, fashion, antiquities and archaeology, public gardens, and sports clubs. Individual chapters bring to light previously unpublished source material in Greek and English, both written and visual, from state and private archives. Using cross-disciplinary analytical tools from fields such as imperial and colonial history, politics, cultural studies, and media and communication studies, the authors provide new insights.

Table of contents

• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figures
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Excavating at Amathus, 1893–4: Collecting Cypriot antiquities in a colonial landscape
• Chapter 2: Traces of imperialist ideologies in the work of female travel writers in colonial Cyprus
• Chapter 3: A ‘garden useful and pleasant’: The case of the Municipal Garden in Nicosia
• Chapter 4: Blackness in imaginary artworks of colonial Cyprus
• Chapter 5: Posters of Cyprus: Promoting the colony during the interwar period
• Chapter 6: Cultural imperialism, the dissemination of modern sports and the sociogenesis of the first sports clubs in British Cyprus (1878–1931)
• Chapter 7: Passive resistance and Europeanization via garment making in British colonial Cyprus
• Chapter 8: Of heroes and villains: Manifestations of national and colonial identity in Cyprus through historical theatre plays, 1878–1960
• Chapter 9: Queen Victoria’s head on postage stamp as a marker in Cyprus’ history
• Chapter 10: Photographic representations of colonial Cyprus and the Ledra Palace Hotel
• Index