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Making Visible the Invisible: Visuality, Narrativity, and Victimhood in Greek Cypriot Memorials

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Abstract

Political memorials and memorial locations in Cyprus function as “figures of memory” that regulate political rhetoric, detect (hi)story-telling, and shape identities, both on a collective as well as on an individual level. Although they seem to go unnoticed in the citizens’ daily routines, they exert profound influence in Greek Cypriot society where remembering and honoring the dead fighters according to the socially institutionalized religious and social rites constitute fundamental prerequisites of “belonging.” The paper will argue that the esthetics applied on the memorials along with their density on the island and the commemoration of individual fighters blur the boundaries between private and public and foster the collective awareness of us. At the same time, line us with the awareness of the self because of the emotional impact visual narratives exert on both a collective and an individual level. Memorial narratives secure a “homogeneous array of reactions” and become powerful propaganda tools because they are the pivotal vehicles in the perception of loss and instruments in the construction of victimhood within the Greek Cypriot society. The paper will sustain that the effect intense exposure causes interacts with the workings of implicit memory, influences dispositions, behaviors, and mental structures and radically intervenes in the process of reality perception.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program “Studies in Hellenic Culture”, Open University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 12794, 2252, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Vicky Karaiskou

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  1. Vicky Karaiskou
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Correspondence to Vicky Karaiskou.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Open University of Cyprus (grant number 0110/ΑΠΚΥ/2011).

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Karaiskou, V. Making Visible the Invisible: Visuality, Narrativity, and Victimhood in Greek Cypriot Memorials. Int J Polit Cult Soc 30, 399–411 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-016-9245-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-016-9245-3

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