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Cyprus: Educational Inequalities in a Divided Country

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The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education

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Abstract

This chapter offers a systematic review of sociological research in Cyprus on the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational inequality between 1980 and 2017. Four major research traditions are identified: (1) school ethnographies of national identity construction; (2) school ethnographies of racism; (3) Critical studies of curricula and textbooks; (4) Studies of teachers and intercultural education. Most of the research conducted in Cyprus focuses on explaining Greek Cypriot ethnocentric identity construction in relation to “others”; namely Turkish Cypriot, and (especially) Asian and Eastern European migrant groups, and is characterized by the use of qualitative research methods and a more ethnographic approach to social sciences. This body of research is written mainly in English and to a lesser degree in Greek and developed in a context of funded projects by international bodies (EU, UNDP), or as part of researchers’ postgraduate studies and to a minimal extent by government funded initiatives. The latter seem to have assimilatory processes as a hidden priority over multiculturalism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All population data come from the Demographic Report of the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus, 2015.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Spyros Spyrou & Marios Vryonides

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  1. Spyros Spyrou
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  2. Marios Vryonides
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Correspondence to Spyros Spyrou .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Peter A. J. Stevens

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    A. Gary Dworkin

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Spyrou, S., Vryonides, M. (2019). Cyprus: Educational Inequalities in a Divided Country. In: Stevens, P.A.J., Dworkin, A.G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_9

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