Description
Book SynopsisBy examining oral history collected during two years of fieldwork, anthropologist Rebecca Bryant investigates why the 2003 opening of the ceasefire line dividing Cyprus has not led the country any closer to reunification, and how in many ways it has driven the two communities of the island farther apart.
Trade Review"A welcome and vibrant addition to the scholarly literature about Cyprus. . . . The various voices of the participants in her research, as well as Bryant's own voice, are well worth listening to." *
Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"
The Past in Pieces is a sensitive, jargon-free and very rich ethnography which. . . addresses fundamental issues in anthropology such as alterity, belonging, and politics." *
The Political and Legal Anthropology Review *
"Rebecca Bryant's
The Past in Pieces offers timely insights about the ways in which protagonists' own experiences and memories with violence and loss complicate the peace process in a conflict ridden land even when the timing and circumstances seem ripe for a peaceful solution. . . Her gifted way of using metaphors while revealing her informants' experiences of loss, betrayal and violence, ability to describe even the most subtle feelings of her characters, and intellectual honesty about her personal dilemmas for not being able to remain objective at times are particularly captivating." *
Nations and Nationalism *
"Bryant's fine-grained, nuanced, and balanced ethnography provides a richly textured and highly insightful account. . . . [T]he book's strength is to transcend the uniqueness and partiality of its setting to give wider appreciation of how the
longue durée of ethnic division shapes and is reshaped by contemporary realities." *
Journal of Refugee Studies *
Table of ContentsThe Sorrow of Unanswered Questions
Introduction: A Prelude to Mourning
One: Paths of No Return
Two: The Anxieties of an Opening
Three: A Needle and a Handkerchief
Four: Geographies of Loss
Five: In the Ruins of Memory
Six: The Spoils of History
Seven: The Pieces of Peace
Eight: Betrayals of the Past
Reading the Future (In Lieu of a Conclusion)
Notes
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
