Imperial Control in Cyprus: Education and Political Manipulation in the British Empire

by Antigone Heraclidou

Overview

In Protectorate Cyprus, education was one of the most effective tools of imperial control and political manipulation used by the British. This book charts the cultural and educational aspects of British colonial rule in Cyprus and analyses what these policies reveal about the internal struggles on the island between 1931 and 1960. Cyprus had been under British occupation since 1878, but it was in the 1930s that educational policies acquired a strong political significance and became essential in preserving the British position on the island. The co-existence of two very strongly-held and eventually conflicting national identities in Cyprus, Greek-Orthodox and Turkish Muslim, inevitably led to the politicisation of education and culture on the island. Therefore, any attempts to impose British culture, language and way of thinking onto Cypriots, or even to create a distinct Cypriot identity, had very limited success. Gradually, the education system reflected the shifting political developments in colonial Cyprus. By the start of the 1950s, schools had become a breeding ground for discontent and between 1955 and 1959 they were an indispensable part of the EOKA revolt.
In this book, Antigone Heraclidou provides a new dimension to the understanding and origins of the deadlock that was to prove one of the most intractable in the final years of the British Empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780755602766
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/23/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Antigone Heraclidou is Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Cyprus and the European University, Cyprus. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgements xi

Foreword xiii

Introduction 1

1 The Education System During the First Fifty Years of the British Administration, 1878-1931 7

2 Making a British Atmosphere in Cyprus, 1931-5 37

3 Towards the End of "Palmerocracy": British Educational Policy in Cyprus, 1936-9 73

4 Education and Politics in Wartime Cyprus, 1940-5 103

5 Education, Enosis and the Revival of Politics in Postwar Cyprus, 1945-50 133

6 A Chaotic Situation: The Role of Schools in the Preparation for the Revolt, 1950-5 177

7 Schools in Uproar: The EOKA Revolt and the End of British Ride in Cyprus 221

Conclusion 255

Notes 265

Bibliography 301

Index 311

Editorial Reviews

"There is much to appreciate about this book ... I am particularly impressed by the conclusion, which takes the discussion away from the traditional narrative of British efforts at de-Hellenization and 'divide and rule', and looks at understanding the British efforts to create a contemporary education system ... I therefore recommend the book as the most up-to-date on the politics of education in Cyprus for the period 1931-59." --Journal of Contemporary History

From the Publisher

Antigone Heraclidou’s book is important for anybody wanting to engage with modern Cypriot historical experience. [It is an] excellent book.

Robert Holland