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Living memory*
Oral history in the Republic of Cyprus
Nikoletta Christodoulou
Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus
Abstract
is chapter provides a description of the Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory Project and its
critical importance in the case of Cyprus. ree levels of data analysis are provided in the form of
reections: rst, there are the project researchers’ reections based on the initial reading of the personal
stories as a preliminary data analysis; second, the presentation of the stories themselves which invite
readers to draw their own conclusions as they delve into arts-based inquiry; and third, analyses based on
group discussions of the stories are suggested as ways for further investigation and reection. Finally, oral
history research is connected with educational research and curriculum studies. Suggestions are provided
for using the narratives in curriculum and instruction both for content learning and for skills acquisition,
such as democratic participation skills, ‘teaching the conict’ skills, and research skills. It is suggested that
oral history research has similar qualities to other forms of inquiry used in educational and curriculum
research, and that it may contribute data and resources to examine questions in education and curriculum.
1. Introduction: The project
In this chapter I provide a description of the Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory
Project1 and I juxtapose it with other similar projects worldwide. In subsequent sections
I focus on research and analysis, the use of oral history in educational research and as an
approach to the curriculum studies eld.
e Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory Project was designed to document
in notes, photographs and sketches, and on audio or video recordings, the voices and
words of the people from every community of Cyprus, in order to capture their memories,
understand their specic meaning-perspectives and illuminate their lives. Our guiding
light was every day a story, every person a philosopher and an expert on his or her own life.
We created as rich and varied an archive as we could; we hoped participants would see
themselves in this collection as three-dimensional, grass-roots makers of history, so that
their descendants would be better able to understand how their ancestors—like all human
beings: free and fated; fated and free—shued through this mortal coil.
e Project currently consists of more than 50 recorded interviews conducted in
a single year, each lasting for one to one-and-a-half hours in duration. Each person was
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134 Nikoletta Christodoulou
interviewed once or twice, and the interviews were transcribed and minimally edited
using the Q and A model (Ayers 2001; Ritchie 2003). ey were then posted on our
website. Relevant life-history data were collected prior to the beginning of the interviews.
e goal of each interview was to create an open-ended conversation and to
follow the lead of the interviewee in describing and discussing events. e opening
statement—a main provocative question—was ‘Tell me your experience and memories of
the events of 1960-1974’ and ‘What do you know/remember about 1960-1974?’ Follow
up questions were of this nature: What else do you remember? Can you tell me more?
What other stories have you heard about these events? Is there someone else I should talk
to? Depending on the direction of the answers, other questions that encouraged making
conversation included: How did you get your name? What were the circumstances of
your birth? Were you ever falsely accused? What do you call home? Have you ever lost
something irreplaceable? What do you hope your friends will always remember about
you? How does your family describe you? If you could take back one choice you made in
your life, what would that be? If you could do one thing dierently, what would it be? Do
your children (parents) know these stories?
Interviews were collected from a wide range of people who experienced historic
events in dierent ways, such as citizens, soldiers, refugees, students, relatives and friends
who had lived through the events vicariously, adults, women and men, and youngsters,
girls and boys, back in 1974, as well as people born since who had heard about the
events and their aftermath from others’ stories. e project also sought the voices of
all categories of people described above, of Greek-Cypriots, Turkish-Cypriots, settlers,
and other minority communities, who have historically been living in Cyprus. Selection
criteria included individuals’ willingness to participate, disclose their names and sign
the consent form, and their conviction that they had an important account to share
because they had some rst-hand involvement in the events, as active participants, or
they had observed something as it happened. e analysis of their narratives reected the
dierent age groups and the dierent capacities and circumstances under which people
experienced the events.
First-person accounts were used to systematically document events as lived by
people rather than to have a single story and interpretation of events. is is particularly
useful, as often just one version and interpretation is controversial since it is inevitably
driven by ideological assumptions, hidden messages and interests. Single accounts and
interpretations are mainly part of the method that has been used in Cyprus so far, and
also elsewhere, in ocial, written history.
Participants in this oral history research project were fully informed about the
method used, which involved the use of their real names rather than pseudonyms. It is
important to note that the use of real names could lead an interviewee to remain silent or
avoid disclosing information and events, due to the sensitive issue of publicizing personal
data. is is a drawback of this method, and yet, the use of real names is the strength of
this type of research since it provides a certain kind of validity and authenticity to the
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account by connecting it to a known, real person. Also, with this method, participants
were more careful to give a more accurate and personalized account.
To date, no similar large-scale project has been undertaken in the Republic of
Cyprus with a systematic eort to document people’s narratives of 1960-1974, which then
transforms this information into a platform for peace education, truth and reconciliation.
e Cyprus Oral History Project research team’s only weapons were inclusion and
multiplicity of stories narrated by a wide range of people who wanted to participate.
We approached people and analysed their personal stories from the perspective of
education and curriculum studies, hoping to give an all-inclusive dimension to the issue.
Below I provide a brief description of the case of Cyprus.
2. The importance of oral history in Cyprus
Cyprus, one of the smallest countries in the European Union, is also the last divided
country in Europe, and Nicosia is the EU’s last divided city. Winning its independence
from Great Britain in 1960, Cyprus has been roiled in ethnic conict, violence, and
division almost from the start; everyone of a certain age remembers the troubles of 1963-
1967. e 1974 Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation for decades sealed the fate
of Cyprus.
e troubles of the last 50 years are not unrelated to Cyprus’ strategic location
at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a place that has long attracted, and
continues to draw, the great world powers. It has been ruled by the Romans, the Ottomans
and Great Britain. Richard the Lionheart took a piece of the island on his way to the
Crusades, Saint Paul was given 39 lashes in Paphos by the Romans for preaching the
Gospel, Othello’s Castle is on the southern coast, and Saint Lazarus died on the island.
Cyprus has always been a storied jewel of the Mediterranean.
Today UN peacekeepers patrol the buer zone (also called the Green Line)
between north and south, and Britain maintains a massive presence of tens of thousands
of military personnel at two bases (one of which most recently was used by the US
to launch attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq) constituting almost 10% of the land mass.
Some Cypriots complain that the great powers see Cyprus as little more than a huge,
unsinkable aircraft carrier.
While since 1999 there has not been a shot red on the Green Line, and while
the border between the north and south opened in 2003, for the generation now in their
sixties, memories of the early days after 1974 are both vivid and raw, and, indeed, for most
Cypriots of every age, Cyprus still bleeds. at bleeding—its interpretative meaning and
its pervasive imaginative power today—is the focus of this work.
e teaching of historical events is often controversial, particularly when it
emphasizes a single narrative and interpretation of events that are inevitably driven by
ideological assumptions, hidden messages and interests (Christodoulou and Katsounari
2009). Currently, in Cyprus there exists a great debate about the historical events leading
up to and including independence, the coup, and the invasion in 1974. Events are typically
presented in a one-sided way, favouring either the Greek-Cypriot or the Turkish-Cypriot
136 Nikoletta Christodoulou
interpretation and community. Depending on who is teaching these events, the aim is
usually to impose a single, ethnic-based orientation and consciousness. Such eorts fail
to engage the deepest and most profound purpose of teaching, which is an abiding eort
to develop the humanity of all people to their maximum capacity (Ayers 2004). e
current Oral History Project proposes a departure from the conventional approach to
presenting and interpreting history, by obtaining a variety of narratives concerning the
events of 1960-1974. By collecting, documenting, and creating an oral history archive,
this project will add depth and nuance to the historical record.
3. Analysisandreections
Analysis of the transcribed, archived records was multi-layered, and many contributed
to this process. It was conducted by the team members and one research assistant and
was based on conversations we had with postgraduate and undergraduate students
of education at a seminar series and in our classes. During the analysis, the dierent
groups of participants were clearly dened and accurately categorized by age, gender,
ethnicity, social extraction, location, positionality, self-identity, various social and personal
dimensions, capacities and circumstances under which people experienced the events.
ree levels of analyses were conducted. e rst was through recurrent reading
of the transcribed stories which revealed several reoccurring assumptions shared among
a number of participants regardless of ethnic background and/or age. e second
analysis was done when the stories themselves were slightly edited as needed to become
more readable. Finally, from our discussions in workshops and in our postgraduate
and undergraduate classes which looked at the stories in conjunction with oral history
research, we saw themes emerge.
Level One: Researchers’ reections based on the initial reading of the personal stories
Based on a preliminary analysis of the interviews collected for the Cyprus Oral History
Project, the following 21 reoccurring assumptions were shared among several participants
regardless of ethnic background and/or age.
Reoccurring assumptions and themes
Assumption 1: Due to the island’s strategic location, the Cyprus problem is the result
of years of foreign involvement and interference – namely by the United
States, the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey. ese countries viewed
Cyprus as a source of petrol and involvement as a means of securing
power in the Mediterranean.
Assumption 2: e British pitted the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots against
each other in eorts to ‘divide and conquer’ and to retain power.
Assumption 3: e politicians are to blame for the prolongation of the Cyprus problem.
Assumption 4: Many individuals know of stories from older generations that depict
peaceful co-existence and friendship between Turkish Cypriots and
Greek Cypriots before the divide. For example, many interviewees
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maintained that prior to the conict the communities took part in the
others’ holidays and celebrations, and as neighbours they helped each
other in many ways.
Assumption 5: Both communities have suered immeasurable losses and endured
hardships due to the conict.
Assumption 6: EOKA B and TMT, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot paramilitary
organizations, respectively, threatened and/or killed those individuals
within their communities who wished or worked for a peaceful, unied
society.
Assumption 7: Individuals from both communities were forced out of their homes and
became refugees. In the case of Turkish Cypriots, in many instances it
was the TMT who forced them out of their houses in order to move
them to Turkish-only villages. In the case of Greek Cypriots, the Turkish
invasion forced them out of their houses.
Assumption 8: For Turkish Cypriots, the Cyprus problem began in the late 1950s and
early 1960s. For Greek Cypriots, the conict began in 1974.
Assumption 9: ose who were around during the 1960s remember propagandized
events in which the other community was unfairly blamed and held
responsible for crimes it did not commit.
Assumption 10: During the 1960s both communities felt their safety and identity was
threatened.
Assumption 11: Many violent acts have been committed as a means of retaliation.
Assumption 12: e trauma of the Cyprus problem is intergenerational and systemic.
Assumption 13: If there is to be any successful reunication, the educational institutions
on both sides of the island need restructuring.
Assumption 14: e current educational institutions are partial and nationalistic. ey
do not teach the ‘real story’ and do not allow for a solution.
Assumption 15: Before the borders opened many among the younger generation thought
that the ‘other side had it better’.
Assumption 16: Ever since the border openings in 2003, the nationalist narratives have
been crumbling. Individuals are now able to experience and witness
rst-hand a shared ‘Cypriotness’.
Assumption 17: ere is a growing sense of unease among Greek Cypriots and Turkish
Cypriots regarding a rapidly increasing foreign population on both
sides of the island. Many native born Cypriots view the rapid rise of
foreign populations as ‘out of control’.
Assumption 18: Most individuals wish to see all foreign powers leave Cyprus.
Assumption 19: Most interviewees believe a solution would be economically
advantageous for the entire island.
Assumption 20: Hostile attitudes and suspicions towards ‘the other’ are still prevalent
across the island.
138 Nikoletta Christodoulou
Assumption 21: After the borders opened in 2003, individuals were able to visit their
family homes. Many, although not all, discovered that the current
occupants had kept family photos and keepsakes of the former
inhabitants with the intention of returning these possessions to their
owners some day.
Multiple readings of the narratives enabled the identication of main themes
and thematic categories under which events, thoughts and feelings fell into patterns.
Common threads drawn from the stories illustrated the nuances and details behind the
big themes, as have been experienced by people themselves. e researchers discerned
nine broader categories of interest:
1. People discussed what they were feeling and doing
Ignorance, fear, agony and desperation were common feelings mentioned by the
narrators, and running away, listening to the radio, looking for loved ones and thinking
of their abandoned and burnt houses were common actions. References to refugees,
missing persons, those killed, the enclaved, prisoners of war, the invasion and the military
coup, as well as to issues of discrimination, lost pride, lost land and abandonment were
also common. e focus of the narrators shifted depending on each one’s positioning,
occupation and preoccupations at the time.
In many of the interviews people talked about events they had lived through and
they also quoted various things they read about these events. Although this is natural for
younger people who did not actually experience the events, older people who had lived
through them also did the same. is is to be expected, as we all tend to read things which
conrm our initial understanding of an event. In particular, books are resources older
people tend to use and then they encourage others, especially the younger generations, to
read the same in order to learn about the past events. For example, interviewee Mehmet
Kansu mentioned the books by Makarios Droushiotis and Niyazi Kizilyurek, as well as
Glafkos Clerides’ books, urging us to also read them.
2. Reference to the main chapters of the Cyprus problem
Depending on the personal experiences and living memories of the interviewees, each of
them emphasized in their recollections and narrations at least one major characteristic
of the Cyprus problem. Narrators’ stories included references to refugees, to displaced
individuals in their own country or elsewhere, missing persons, those who were
murdered, enclaved persons, prisoners of war, the invasion and the military coup. Within
each recount, emotions, such as the drama, trauma, pain, sadness, agony and happiness
related to the various and complex chapters of Cyprus’ history during that period and
were evidenced, portrayed and highlighted in the most authentically human way. Also
stressed in the narratives were the various aspects and dimensions of each phase of the
problem, including cognitive, aective, psychological, emotional, social, political and
humanitarian dimensions.
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3. Discrimination
Each person experienced some kind of discrimination depending on his or her position
at the time. is was prominent between Cypriot refugees and non-refugees, which was
highlighted in vivid detail by interviewees who were children or teenagers at the time.
Phrases, such as ‘eat your meal or the refugee kid from next door will eat it’, which
were repeatedly mentioned by the refugee interviewees, evidenced this treatment. Also,
refugees described situations in which they had to wait patiently in line to get food
from the soup kitchen or donated clothing delivered to them and the degradation and
humiliation they felt during this process.
To avoid feelings of discrimination, child refugees often tried to hide their refugee
status and the fact that they were receiving aid. Also, refugees were greatly aected by
the fact that boys had to shave their heads in order to be clean and to avoid the spread of
diseases due to the lack of water and poor living conditions after the invasion. Refugees
often stressed that they had diculty renting a house in the places to which they had
moved, because either ats and houses had all been rented already, or landlords put forth
ridiculous demands and restrictions, such as not allowing the tenants to entertain visitors
or have guests with children, which made them feel like they were diminished in their
human dignity.
4. Consequences of being on the left or right of the political spectrum
A big issue at the time was whether people supported left- or right-wing political parties,
which mainly applied to the issue of nationalism. Another point was the feeling that
Cypriots were taken advantage of by foreign countries and this feeling was exploited for
political gain. Of course, the idea of nationalism in a country that was under occupation
at the time, after having only recently been freed from British rule (1960), was new and
delicate. Its stability was built on fragile ground, and instead of receiving support to
deal with this new issue and to achieve a ne balance, nationalist leanings, which were
long nurtured both outside of and on the island, spread rapidly throughout the island.
is culminated with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. People, ignorant of the
consequences of their actions, blindly and enthusiastically followed their often equally
ignorant leaders and thus made a bad situation worse.
Interviewees, referred more or less to the same issues; however, leftists who felt
that they were the unappreciated and oppressed minority, highlighted that they were
leftists and that they were persecuted and victimized by right-wing sympathisers.
Leftists also emphasized the military coup and mentioned that they were pigeonholed
and treated unfairly.
In contrast, others did not pay attention to what happened to left-wing partisans,
apparently because they had not felt they were discriminated against for their political
beliefs. Instead, they paid attention to the fate of their homes. Greek Cypriots dwelled on
the fact that the Turks stole their homes and Turkish Cypriots on the fact that the Greeks
burnt down their homes. Although all interviewees referred to the same events of the
140 Nikoletta Christodoulou
Cyprus problem, which the researchers objectively separated from ideologies and similar
assumptions, the stories that were told and the events that were emphasized depended on
which political side each respondent belonged.
In this context it would perhaps have been useful to ask people outright where
they placed themselves on the political spectrum, left, right or centre. As it transpired, the
Turkish Cypriot interviewees were all left wing and in favour of reunication / federation.
While I mention this with caution, I assume that any right-wing Turkish Cypriot would
not have agreed to be interviewed in the rst place.
5. The way individuals talked about the problem and what they emphasised
How people talked about the events, what they emphasized, what they decided not to talk
about, and the analysis they themselves conducted depended on their current position and
occupation, and it had a lot to do with who they were. For instance, one participant who
is an activist, socialist teacher talked passionately about discrimination. He coloured his
experiences and living memories in vibrant imagery and highlighted words and notions
relevant to social issues, human rights and social justice. Also, participants who belonged
to NGOs were careful in the selection of their words and experiences so their utterances
would fall within the boundaries of the politics and tactics of their associations and they
would not to put themselves in an awkward situation with their workplace.
6. The beginning of a new reality for the island and its people
Interviewees talked about how people after 1974 had to work countless hours in order
to make their living, survive and feed their families. Usually, all family members, father,
mother, grandparents and children, had to work outside the home. Many people and
families had to go abroad in order to work. People also had to do jobs they never
imagined they would have to do, such as cleaning houses and working in factories,
anything that would give them some money to rebuild their lives, to get a new home,
to re-establish themselves in society and to confront the harsh, yet new reality that was
confronting them.
Despite the messy conditions these people had found themselves in and the
deprivation they had to live through, their pride in their home villages and their dignity
was enormous and it became a feature that would shape their character, personality,
worldview and expectations for their life and their hopes for their children. ese were
experiences and living memories that had marked them irreversibly, deeply and indelibly.
eir eorts to attain better conditions for their families and themselves and to rebuild
their lives was apparent. Films such as e Lord of e Rings and e Grapes of Wrath were
mentioned by interviewees as models for their lives that could explain the struggle and
their determination to pursue something better.
7. Perceptions about Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots
e interviewees agreed that Turkish Cypriots were typically engaged in second-rate
jobs and some mentioned that nobody was prohibiting Turkish Cypriots from advancing
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themselves and improving their condition, provided that they were willing and eager to
do so. However, others emphasized that things in Cyprus were not as rosy as some people
present them to be. For instance, an interviewee wondered how people could talk about
interculturalism in Cyprus. For one thing, there were not any mixed marriages, and also
in sports, especially football, which is an activity that usually unites people, ethnically
and universally, the Turkish and Greek populations did not mix. Schools and language
were separate and there was no eort to achieve any kind of a blended society. A society
cannot be considered intercultural just because there are dierent cultures living in close
proximity of each other.
Back then, in Cyprus no authentic education existed that encouraged people to
take this intercultural view nor was there any eort on either side to live together in an
eective, productive and nurturing way, without dominance and subjugation. How was
it possible then for love and respect to prevail and help people to collectively overcome,
with reason and prudence, whatever was forced upon them from various interests? ere
were some who lled the minds of people with ideas and ideals, and conicts erupted
among people, which in turn presented other countries with the opportunity to intrude.
Both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots thought each other to be a bad
community ready to hurt the other. However, when the borders opened in 2003, they
had the opportunity to meet each other and this perception changed, although for some
only slightly, whereas for others totally. A young Turkish Cypriot interviewee made the
interesting observation that for many years she had never thought about Greek Cypriots’
feelings, ‘even when sleeping in the bed of a Greek Cypriot’. It was only later, when she
met Greek Cypriots that she became aware that they had also suered and had had
experiences similar to Turkish Cypriots.’
8. Common realizations
Generally, interviewees agreed that Turkey had been seeking an opportunity to invade
the island. After various unsuccessful eorts, Turkey nally achieved its longstanding
plan to invade Cyprus and dominate the northern part. As is the case for most Cypriots,
both Greek and Turkish Cypriot interviewees blame Britain, Turkey, Greece and the
USA for what happened. Also, to some degree there was consensus that Archbishop
Makarios, the rst president of the newly established independent Republic of Cyprus,
was not the most appropriate and skilled person to lead the country and that he did
irreparable damage.
Moreover, there was agreement on the subject of patriotism in that interviewees
agreed that many individuals acted in a nationalistic way. It was stated that while people
did not really mean to harm their country, they acted impulsively without considering the
consequences, while Turkey waited for the right time to invade. Nevertheless, some people
were conscious of their actions, yet were driven by individual ambitions and personal
interests to lead the country and its people into a precarious situation. In addition, it was
the lack of professionalism, skills, reason, wisdom, aspiration and critical thinking on the
142 Nikoletta Christodoulou
part of politicians and leaders of various socio-political groups that led to dead ends and
irreversible situations.
Another interviewee stressed the idea that young people needed to learn the truth
about what happened in the past, but admitted that he himself had not taught his children
about the facts he had experienced rst-hand and how he had come to view them years
later. is silence is representative of the way most Cypriots deal with the past.
9. Memory
It is well acknowledged in the literature of oral history research that memory is something
that intervenes and aects the accounts of the participants (Portelli 1991; Passerini
1979). is is one of the main values of oral history. During the analysis of the interviews
we noticed some gaps in the narratives mainly due to issues of memory. Some of the
participants ,who reread their narrations, veried them again and/or added what they
had previously forgotten. Also, in some instances readers made some corrections. For
example, after watching the project’s documentary on YouTube, a man emailed us asking
to correct a date mentioned by one interviewee who had said that the inter-communal
conicts started in November 1963, whereas the events actually started in December
1963. Further, when we asked one interviewee’s daughter to check out her father’s story
she said:
In my dad’s interview I noticed that even people with the best memories have
lapses! He says that at the time of invasion I was still a child and was with my mother,
but this is not the case; he is confusing this with the EOKA time. At the time of the
invasion I was 24 and was seconded from my job to the Red Cross where I was in charge
of medical supplies. My mother worked as a volunteer at the Nicosia General Hospital.
Level Two: Archived stories
e stories themselves were presented in a more arts-based inquiry mode, and they were
slightly edited to become more readable when they were transcribed and transformed
from stories to be heard by an audience to stories to be read by readers. Although these
stories were not analysed, people are invited to read them and as they delve into an
arts-based inquiry mode, they can conduct their own analysis and draw their own
conclusions. ese stories can be found at the Project’s website and in the Cyprus Oral
History Archive.2
ese narratives are as inclusive as possible in regards to age (participants were
born between 1910 – 1990), gender, experience and ethnic community. We also included
refugees and non-refugees, prisoners of war, individuals with missing relatives and those
who lived in the enclaves. ey vividly portray decisive moments in their lives, the way
they thought about the moments unfolding in front of them, the way they acted, and
the way the happenings prompted their participation. ese stories are signicant and
important in the contemporary history of Cyprus as they contain features and episodes
that the next generation has grown up hearing about and living in their aftermath.
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Also, these accounts will be echoing in the ears and minds of all subsequent
generations in Cyprus. We deem it important to pay attention to and discuss these
decisive moments, which compile powerful stories. We also believe it important to throw
light on all these little instances lived, experienced and remembered by people, and
all that they had to go through, including their actions, reections and emotional and
psychological reactions. is then amounts to a three-dimensional representation of the
goings-on from 1960–1974 in Cyprus.
Level ree: Analysis based on discussions
Certain themes emerged from our discussions in workshops and seminar-series, and
in our undergraduate and graduate university classes, where we looked at the archived
stories in conjunction with oral history research. Our attention was drawn to numerous
points that became another way to analyse the stories. ese themes and assumptions are
listed as follows:
Oral history does not settle dierences but adds to them instead.
Oral history is not stable over time. Unlike ocial narratives, it does not assign one
story to every event; it allows for surprises.
Oral history does not solve contradictions, but keeps them alive.
Oral history provides the opportunity to wonder about alternative experiences.
e Cyprus Oral History Project aims to expand the historical narrative beyond the
textbooks used in school.
e Cyprus Oral History Project illuminates that every textbook has a story to tell.
Oral history provides participants the opportunity (interviewer, interviewee, reader)
to gain compassion.
Oral history gives depth to the existing narrative.
Oral history illuminates existing frameworks and provides lenses through which the
individual can view the world – for both personal and societal views.
Oral history shows participants (interviewer, interviewee, reader) there are many
viewpoints and facets of history.
Participants learn that everything is relative, subjective, and open to interpretation.
Participants learn that everyone uses dierent words to describe events, and the
words that are used carry weight.
Participants learn that power dynamics exist in society and aect the individual’s
experience greatly.
Participants learn that oral history enables them to jump into another world.
Additionally, we discussed the potential of oral history for peace building, why
people say what they say, issues of politics in oral history research, and the role of the
researcher, as as a member of the community or as an outsider, looking at diculties
and the politics he or she may encounter. Also discussed was how oral history
research and interviewing dier from biographical research, biography and journalistic
interview styles.
144 Nikoletta Christodoulou
Issues of memory and history also became part of our discussions. In fact, in
oral history we do not seek the truth because memory can be selective; rather, we seek
multiplicity and variation of stories and experiences and what we can learn from people
for our own personal advancement and, for those in education, that of our students.
Further, we compared the stories told by older and younger generations. ere was a
particular depth and richness in detail and emotion in the narrations of the old generation,
whereas people from the younger generation who experienced the events only vicariously
provided a thinner description, without that many details.
Additionally, we discussed potential further analysis of the narratives of the Project:
a comparison with what is included in the ocial history; a comparison based on the
narrators’ status, age, community and what people were doing on particular days between
1960–1974, for example on 20 July 1974.
Oral history illuminates unique moments and experiences, which typically are not
included in the ocial history books. erefore, it was deemed important to include
oral history in educational research, curriculum studies and in the process of school
curriculum development as well as in teaching.
10. Oral history, educational research and curriculum studies
Oral history research bears many qualitative characteristics that are used in education
and in curriculum inquiry, such as narration, inclusiveness, biography, autobiography and
examination of currere, the connection or blending together people’s past and present
experiences and with possible ones in the future. On the one hand, educational research
focuses on questions pertinent to the actors and their roles in education, including
teachers, teaching, students and learning. On the other hand, the eld of curriculum
studies is concerned with the study of the curriculum and its various dimensions and the
way the lived experiences of people aect, create or hinder educative opportunities.
Qualitative research methods in education and curriculum studies use data that
are descriptive in nature and derived from case studies, ethnography, phenomenology,
arts-based inquiry, narrative accounts and historical accounts. ese inquiries provide
thick and rich descriptions by collecting data through observations, interviews, document
analysis, and participant products such as journals, diaries, images, and blogs. ese
methods have many overlapping points with oral history methodologies in terms of their
qualitative and descriptive nature and data collection. Oral history aims mainly to collect
oral accounts of a historical nature which provides valuable data for educational research
and curriculum inquiry as they illustrate aspects of human experience, thought and action
that inform and enrich dimensions of education and curriculum. As educational research
seeks to depict as many voices as possible, oral history research methods alongside other
ways of inquiry and qualitative research may contribute data and resources to examine
questions in education and curriculum.
e Cyprus Oral History Project approached people, collected and analyzed their
personal stories from the perspective of education and curriculum studies. We had hoped
to contribute to the education of people of every generation in terms of both learning
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content and acquiring active, democratic citizenship skills as they learn, participate,
question, think, wonder, and criticize others and themselves. We also hoped to challenge
the entirety of school curricula, what is included in them, what is excluded, why and how
this aects the way students are taught and how they learn and their opportunities to
become alert, active, sensitized, democratic citizens and fully developed human beings.
In our project we hoped to show that oral history can be used in conjunction with
curriculum inquiry in the following ways: education and curriculum as experiences and
living memories; curriculum as critical thinking; curriculum as narratives; curriculum
as autobiography; curriculum as understanding; curriculum as a grassroots project;
curriculum as research and inquiry; curriculum as what we know and as a challenge to
what we know.
11. Potential for Curriculum and Instruction
In oral history projects, the challenge is not solely to interview people and collect stories,
but as in every other research project, there exists the issue of the project’s sustainability
in the post-funding period, and the ‘so what?’ question. Also, there is the issue of what do
we do with the collected data, that is, how do we use them to advance ourselves and, for
those in teaching, their students. In this project we had a clear perspective: to connect oral
history research with curriculum and teaching, and also to nd ways to involve people in
our endeavour who would continue the project.
erefore, we made the research data available to graduate students to conduct
analyses and write up their Master’s thesis. One Master’s thesis has been completed thus
far in the US and another one is underway in Cyprus. Furthermore, we collaborated with
schools in order to implement the oral history research method within school settings
and to expand the Cyprus Oral History Project archive through students’ eldwork.
Within this framework, the group of students we collaborated with won rst prize at a
student research contest. Also, we presented the project at undergraduate and graduate
university research courses and students wrote journals reecting on the project and the
oral history method. We worked with colleagues to receive local and EU funding in
order to expand the project, enrich the existing oral history archive and exploit it through
various academic and other outreach activities. Last but not least, we became aliated
with international oral history organizations.
e Cyprus Oral History Archive can be used in various ways in schools to achieve
a twofold aim. First is to encourage dialogue and enable students to develop their critical
thinking skills within the framework of democratic participation and living in society
and citizenship education. In this respect, a major question that could be addressed to
students would be ‘Why do interviewees say what they say?’ In an answer to this question,
the archive can become primary and supplementary content in social studies classes in
order to compare and contrast, to question and doubt, and to talk about lessons learned.
On this level, teaching and conict recognition ought to be major topics in such social
science classes.
146 Nikoletta Christodoulou
e second aim is to enable students to develop their research skills, both by
discussing and analysing the archival data and also by using the existing data and research
to learn how to conduct oral history research themselves and develop skills that can also
be applied to other research work.
One of the major lessons learned during this project could be that what appears to
be obvious usually is not; there is always more to know; what we know is never enough.
Equally important is that people are trapped in their fate and decisions and they can
easily become actors and followers without thinking through the consequences of their
actions: people need to have their eyes wide open, thinking and doubting everything
so that they do not become victims of vested interests and big words. e project at
hand, as students said, helped them to understand the fate of humans, their shortfalls
and their potentials.
rough this work, future historians, sociologists, educators, students, and the
general public will be enabled to access material to aid their own searches for deeper
meaning and fuller understanding. e project added ground-level, individual perspectives
to a growing body of texts in order to uncover and teach the conict and in this way,
through oral history, assist the process of truth-telling and reconciliation.
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Notes
* Acknowledgements: I wish to extend my sincere thanks to my friend and mentor Bill Ayers, University
of Illinois at Chicago, (retired) Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar.
Bill is a lifetime activist with major contributions in public and democratic education, theorization
and practice. As a matter of fact, there are not enough words to thank him for his collaboration and
valuable contributions to this project. I also thank my friend and colleague Lucy Avraamidou, from the
University of Nicosia, Cyprus, for all her support, as well as the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation,
Frederick Research Center, Nicosia, Cyprus and CARDET, Nicosia, Cyprus.
1. e Cyprus Oral History Project was funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (grant
ΠΡΟΣΕΛΚΥΣΗ/ΕΜΠΕΙΡΟΣ/0609/08) and hosted by the Frederick Research Center, Nicosia, Cyprus.
2. e Cyprus Oral History Archive is at http://www.frederick.ac.cy/research/oralhistory/index.
php?option=com_content&view=category&id=2&Itemid=
148 Nikoletta Christodoulou
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