Cyprus: New publication by Cynthia Cockburn, "The Line: Women, Partition and the Gender Order in Cyprus"

Source: 
Zed
Step across the Green Line in Cyprus and you defy the political leaders who seek to control movement.
But more and more ordinary Cypriots are challenging the validity of Partition.
As Cyprus joins the European Union, can Greek and Turkish-speaking Cypriots put their violent past behind them and build a multicultural and gender-equal society?

Based on action research among Cypriot women, this study documents the life of a remarkable women's project. The women take protest onto the streets, calling for peace and the inclusion of women in building a new Cypriot society. Cyprus, past and present, is a microcosm of wider social processes. A line has been destructively drawn, over decades, between two so-called ethnic groups. Over millennia, a similar line has been scored between women and men.

The book will be a valuable resource for all those who analyse, teach about and resist gendered and ethnicized war, not only in the Eastern Mediterranean but much further afield.

Endorsements

'Cynthia Cockburn writes with clarity and passion about a remarkable movement. Out of a history of violence and hatred come imaginative moves for reconciliation, and new ideas about equality and identity. This is a vivid and thoughtful book, relevant to men as well as women, and useful to all concerned about ethnic division and political violence anywhere in the world.'
R.W.Connell, professor of Education, University of Sydney, author of ‘Gender and Power’, ‘Masculinities’ and ‘Gender’.

'’This is it! In this terrific book Cynthia Cockburn has shown us all how to take an allegedly ‘ancient’ inter-ethnic, internationalized conflict and reveal instead the very particular ways in which the politics of masculinity and femininity have been wielded to entrench that conflict. She does this by taking seriously the hard work of thinking and action done by Cypriot feminists. I can't wait to use ‘The Line’ n classes. It's pathbreaking.’
Cynthia Enloe, Research Professor, Government and Women’s Studies, Clark University, author of ‘Bananas, Beaches and Bases’, ‘The Morning After’ and ‘Maneuvers: the International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives’.

Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Self and Other: Kinds of Line
Chapter 2. The Production of Enmity
Chapter 3. Sorting, Separating, Sealing
Chapter 4. Partitioned Power: Women and the Structures
Chapter 5. Binary Logic: Marriage, Sex and Bodies
Chapter 6. Challenging the Line: Women's Activism
Chapter 7. Transversal Politics: Problems of Practice
Chapter 8. Inclusion and Diversity

Release Date: 31/01/04
International Relations / Women's Studies / Politics
Hb ISBN 1 84277 420 4 £49.95 $75.00
Pb ISBN 1 84277 421 2 £15.95 $25.00
Extent: 256 pages
Features: Halftones Notes Bibliography Index
Format: Metric demy

Publisher and distributor: Zed Books, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK
Tel: + 44 20 7837 4014 / 8466 Fax: +44 20 7833 3960
Email: sales@zedbooks.demon.co.uk