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1974, bill ayers, Cyprus, Oral history, weather underground

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ACADEMICS will gather at Frederick University in Nicosia tomorrow night to hear the findings of a pioneering study into the oral history of Cyprus since the 1960s.

The study, entitled “The Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory Project” brings together a team of qualitative researchers from Cyprus and abroad, including oral history expert research Dr William Ayers, and led by Frederick University’s Nicoletta Christodoulou.

Christodoulou said yesterday: “The general purpose of the project was to record in notes and photographs and sketches, on audio and video, the voices and words of the people of Cyprus themselves -folks from every community - to capture their memories from the events of 1974...as an approach to teaching about the conflict and promoting reconciliation and peace education.”

Several theoretical perspectives on oral history research and methods will be discussed at Friday’s event, followed by a presentation of the project results.

Ayers, who is well-known as the co-founder of the revolutionary anti Vietnam war group, Weather Underground, brings a wealth of knowledge of oral history to the project.

“The goal (of the project) is to contribute to a deeply democratic project that honour the memories (of those caught up in Cyprus’ conflicts since the 1960s)” he said yesterday.

“One thing we try to deal with is overcoming the egotism of victimisation and the belief that ‘my pain is bigger than your pain’... and Nicoletta Christodooulou has done a remarkable job collecting memories of the events of the 1960s and 1974 - We now have the beginnings of an archive.”

According to the project website, the events in Cyprus surrounding independence, the coup and the 1974 invasion are typically presented in a one-sided way, favouring either the Greek Cypriot or the Turkish Cypriot interpretation and community. 

Oral historians aim to tackle these often conflicting histories by examining the link between memory and events, and by teaching the conflict itself. 

As Ayers puts it: “In a conflict zone you get conflicting accounts, yet these can all be true... We’re interested in exploring teaching of conflict through oral history to increase mutual understanding.”

Reaching their goal of creating an oral history culture, Ayers says, could increase communities’ mutual understanding of such truth and even pave the way to reconciliation.

For more information about the project and Friday’s event, which is free and open to the public, visit http://www.frederick.ac.cy/research/oralhistory/