'When one doesn’t even exist': Europeanization, trans* subjectivities, and agency in Cyprus

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.In the context of Europeanization, transnational LGBTI rights and politics discourses and paradigms interact with local ones. However, the effects of this interaction on trans* people in the margins of ‘Europe’ have received little attention. Drawing from participant observation and interviews with trans* respondents, I examine how trans* subjectivities and politics in Cyprus are shaped amidst this process. I show that institutional responses to trans* claims reinforce trans* marginalization. I find that trans* people are marginalized in, and disappointed by the normalization of, the (trans)national LGBTI movement. I argue that these factors induce alternative modes of everyday trans* politics and community organizing outside NGO structures. Therefore, this article helps decenter trans* studies’ typical focus on Western Europe, North America, and Australasia, while offering an analysis of the role of Europeanization in Cypriot LGBTI politics

Feminism in Cyprus: Women’s Agency, Gender and Peace in the Shadow of Nationalism

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.This article explores the ways through which feminist and women’s agency is articulated in the Cypriot context through the paradigms of nationalism, peace and conflict. It does so to broaden our understanding of gendered and peace agency in troubled and divided societies, where complex and conflicting discourses meet. Analyzing data from interviews with feminist and women’s groups’ representatives, it examines how nationalism and women’s approaches to gender, politics, peace and conflict enable or restrict feminist and women’s agency. It finds that a strategic essentialism approach has initiated a reconfiguration of gender(ed) power relations, women’s agency and peacebuilding processes. It argues that when this approach is combined with feminist theory and praxis and the employment of transnational peace paradigms, the possibilities of feminist and women’s agency increase, as long as feminist scholarship and grassroots activism inform each other through dialogue. Therefore, it highlights the nuanced and complex dialectic between essentialist and anti-essentialist feminist gender discourses. Moreover, it challenges arguments about the rigidly hierarchical relation between local and transnational gendered and peace agency paradigms, by demonstrating their malleability and reciprocity. Thus, it contributes to the debate about the modalities and possibilities of feminist sociopolitical intervention in nationalism- and conflict-ridden contexts

Sexuality, gender and the (re)making of modernity and nationhood in Cyprus

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This article studies Cypriot LGBs' identity construction processes and understandings of politics amidst the sociopolitical environment within which they are articulated. It does so by addressing a question that is central to gender and sexuality research: How are gender and sexual identities formed, and how do these formations inform gender and sexuality politics in contexts caught between tradition and modernity? Employing a qualitative research design, it thematically analyzes data from interviews with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot LGBs. It marks intra-ethnic and interethnic in-group exclusions. It argues that these exclusions are reinforced by local notions about modernity, expressed through the “Europe/west–versus the–rest” opposition. Nonetheless, it also finds that the successes of the Cypriot LGBTI movement have been based on opportunities created by Europeanization. Therefore, it helps develop our understanding of the implications of conceptions of nationhood, gender, and sexuality on gender and sexuality politics where the “rest” meets the “west.

Sexual Politics – Party Politics: The Rules of Engagement in the Case of Cyprus

Cyprus’ partitocratic character complicates the ways in which civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties interact and impact each other. Political parties’ willingness to interact with CSOs and CSOs’ success in convincing political parties to support their cause are limited, when the cause is considered to be threatening hegemonic understandings of how sexual and gender relations are supposed to be structured. Nonetheless, an examination of the modes of interaction between Accept Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transexuals Cyprus (Accept-LGBT)—the only Greek-Cypriot lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) CSO in the country—and Greek-Cypriot political parties suggests that although the former cannot evade the sphere of influence of the latter, it is able to invent strategies of (non)interaction with political parties and political party figures, which propel its aims and objectives. This analysis argues that noninteraction with political parties per se and interaction with specific LGBTI-friendly political party figures appears to be a strategy that aids Accept-LGBT to politicize issues of concern to nonheterosexual Greek Cypriots. Through its lobbying of LGBTI-friendly political party figures, issues avoided by political parties as politically trivial or risky are incrementally introduced in their agendas. The argument is based on empirical research that includes interviews with LGBTI activists and political party figures and covers the last three decades. Though focused on the case of Cyprus, it answers a set of questions about the relationship between sexual and party politics in partitocratic contexts, which are pertinent toward unearthing and understanding what this chapter argues to be one of its most important—yet underestimated—parameters: noninteraction as a political strategy

Women and Gender in Cypriot Films: (Re) claiming Agency amidst the Discourses of its Negation

In the sociopolitical space of divided Cyprus the political problem dominates, leaving little space for discussions about the exclusions it produces. The accentuation of existing patriarchal structures and essentialist gender role binarisms by masculinist and heteronormative nationalist discourses is a prevalent phenomenon in Cyprus, as it in other locales that face analogous ethnonational problems. However, a preliminary glance at filmic spaces suggests that in Cypriot films women assume diverse and significant roles, which both intensify and emasculate predominant discourses. This chapter evaluates gender issues in Cypriot films from the 1960s to the 2010s and examines the possible significance of filmic spaces as areas where alternative constructions of female subjectivity and agency could be negotiated. It examines films based on three categories of female subjectivities and women’s agency – or lack thereof: a) women-as-victims of predominant discourses, b) women as (co) perpetrators of predominant discourses and c) women as agents

Vote for Your Rights: Voting Trends of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Queer Community: Results Report: 2nd Part of the Research (Postelectoral) July 2014

Η έκθεση αυτή στηρίζεται στα αποτελέσματα του δεύτερου σταδίου της έρευνας που διεξάγει το Athens Pride και η Colour Youth σε συνεργασία με την Δρ. Νάγια Καμένου, σχετικά με τα αποτελέσματα του προγράμματος «Ψήφισε για τα δικαιώματα σου». Το πρώτο ερωτηματολόγιο συμπληρώθηκε από τα τέλη Μαρτίου μέχρι και τις αρχές Απριλίου 2014. Μετά από την συμπλήρωσή του πραγματοποιήθηκαν δραστηριότητες ενημέρωσης της LGBTQ κοινότητας καθώς και της ευρύτερης κοινωνίας σε σχέση με τα LGBTQ δικαιώματα στην Ελλάδα. Το πρόγραμμα «Ψήφισε για τα δικαιώματα σου» είναι μια πρωτοβουλία του Athens Pride και της Colour Youth. Ένας από τους βασικούς στόχους του προγράμματος είναι η ενημέρωση της LGBTQ κοινότητας σε σχέση με τα δικαιώματά της, καθώς και σε σχέση με τις στάσεις των κομμάτων και υποψηφίων που έλαβαν μέρος στις δημοτικές/περιφερειακές εκλογές και τις εκλογές του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου του Μαΐου του 2014 απέναντι στην LGBTQ κοινότητα και στα LGBTQ δικαιώματα. Ένας άλλος βασικός στόχος του προγράμματος είναι η ενημέρωση των πολιτικών ιθυνόντων (policymakers) σε σχέση με τις ανάγκες, τις προτεραιότητες και τα αιτήματα της LGBTQ κοινότητας, αφού η ανάγκη για αναγνώριση και ικανοποίηση τους πηγάζει από τις αρχές της ισότητας και της ισονομίας, οι οποίες αποτελούν τους βασικούς πυλώνες κάθε δημοκρατικής πολιτικής κοινωνίας. This report draws on the results of the second phase of the research project undertaken by Athens Pride and Colour Youth in collaboration with Dr. Nayia Kamenou, on the results of the "Vote program for your rights" program. The first questionnaire was completed by participants from the end of March 2014 until early April 2014. After the completion of the questionnaire, information activities for the LGBTQ community and the wider society in relation to LGBTQ rights in Greece were organized. The "Vote for the rights” program is an initiative of Athens Pride and Colour Youth. One of the main objectives of the program is to inform the LGBTQ community in relation to its rights and in relation to the attitudes of the parties and candidates that participated in the municipal / regional elections and European Parliament elections in May 2014 vis-à-vis the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ rights. Another key objective of the program is to inform policymakers about the needs, priorities and demands of the LGBTQ community, since the need for their recognition and satisfaction stems from the principles of equality and fairness, which are the main pillars of a democratic civil society

Queer in Cyprus: National Identity and the Construction of Gender and Sexuality

The Republic of Cyprus (RoC) is an economically advanced, nominally secular and multicultural European democratic state, which claims to respect human rights pertaining to diversity. Nevertheless, Cypriot society is deeply divided along national, ethnic, racial, sex, gender and sexuality lines. Thus, it is particularly instructive for demonstrating how nationalism relates to gender and sexuality in nationalistic, ethnically divided, postcolonial and traditional milieus. At the same time the Cypriot microcosm functions as a window on injustices that take place elsewhere in the name of national prerogatives, in a globalized and amalgamating world. Additionally, it exhibits how relatively recent phenomena such as Europeanization – ‘a process of structural change, variously affecting actors and institutions, ideas and interests’ (Featherstone 2003: 3) – and external policies, laws and trends promote or inhibit certain subjectivities’ inclusion in – or exclusion from – the body of the nation and from the dominant socio-political culture. Accordingly, this chapter will address the questions: a) How are gender and sexuality subjectivities constructed in Cyprus and what is their relationship to national identity and to other predominant discourses? b) How are ‘human rights’ and ‘Europe’ conceptualized and how do lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) rights operate in the Cypriot context? c) What strategies are needed in order for alternative identities to flourish and for European and global LGBTQ legal developments to be substantially applied on the local level? d) What role might queer theory play – or not play – in milieus where a strategically identity-based LGBTQ movement seems to offer the best hope for affecting societal and political change

Difficult Intersections: Nation(alism) and the LGBTIQ movement in Cyprus

This chapter studies Cypriot LGBTIQs’ intersectional politics amidst the sociopolitical environment within which these are articulated, marked by strong nationalistic discourses as well as tensions with European identity and belonging. Specifically, it examines the ways in which local and external discourses about nationhood, gender and sexuality shape dynamics of intersectionality. It does so by analyzing how gender and sexual identities are formed, and by questioning how these formations inform LGBTIQ movement politics in contentious contexts. The chapter employs a qualitative research design and thematically analyzes empirical ethnographic data that includes interviews with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot LGBTIQ participants. It marks intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic dynamics of in-group exclusions. The research argues that these exclusions are reinforced by local notions about “Europe,” expressed through the “Europe/West-versus-the-Rest” dichotomy. Nonetheless, it also finds that the successes of the Cypriot LGBTIQ movement have been based on opportunities afforded by “Europe” and Europeanization. Therefore, this chapter builds a theoretical and empirical framework for understanding the implications of understandings of nationhood, gender and sexuality on LGBTIQ politics when the “Rest” meets the “West/Europe.

Vote for Your Rights: Voting Trends of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Queer Community: Results Report: 1st Part of the Research (Preelectoral) May 2014

Η έκθεση αυτή στηρίζεται στα αποτελέσματα του πρώτου σταδίου της έρευνας που διεξάγει το Athens Pride και η Colour Youth σε συνεργασία με την Δρ. Νάγια Καμένου, σχετικά με την πρόθεση και τις τάσεις ψήφου της LGBTQ κοινότητας. Η έρευνα πραγματοποιείται στα πλαίσια του προγράμματος «Ψήφισε για τα δικαιώματα σου». Το πρόγραμμα «Ψήφισε για τα δικαιώματα σου» είναι μια πρωτοβουλία του Athens Pride και της Colour Youth, εν όψει των δημοτικών/περιφερειακών εκλογών και των εκλογών του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου (ευρωεκλογών) του Μαΐου του 2014. Το δεύτερο στάδιο της έρευνας θα πραγματοποιηθεί μετά την ολοκλήρωση των εκλογών του Μαΐου του 2014. Σκοπός της έρευνας είναι o εντοπισμός και η κατανόηση των πολιτικών αναγκών, προτεραιοτήτων και αιτημάτων της LGBT κοινότητας. Στόχος της είναι η ενημέρωση των πολιτικών ιθυνόντων (policymakers) σε σχέση με αυτές τις ανάγκες, προτεραιότητες και αιτήματα, αφού η ανάγκη για αναγνώριση και ικανοποίηση τους πηγάζει από τις αρχές της ισότητας και της ισονομίας, οι οποίες αποτελούν τους βασικούς πυλώνες κάθε δημοκρατικής πολιτικής κοινωνίας. Τόσο ο σκοπός όσο και ο βασικός στόχος της έρευνας την καθιστούν εξαιρετικά σημαντική, ειδικά αυτή τη χρονική περίοδο που η οικονομική ύφεση τείνει να επισκιάζει άλλα σημαντικά κοινωνικοπολιτικά θέματα τα οποία αφορούν κυρίως τις διαχρονικά αποκλεισμένες ομάδες, όπως τα LGBT άτομα. This report draws on the results of the first phase of the research project undertaken by Athens Pride and Colour Youth in collaboration with Dr. Nayia Kamenou, on the voting intentions and trends of the LGBTQ community. The research carried out under the as part of the "Vote for your rights" program. The "Vote for the rights” program is an initiative of Athens Pride and Colour Youth, in view of the municipal / regional elections and European Parliament elections in May 2014. The second stage of the research investigation will be carried out after the completion of the May 2014 elections. The research aims at the identification and understanding of policy needs, priorities and demands of the LGBT community. Its objective is to inform policymakers about these needs, priorities and demands, since the need for their recognition and satisfaction stems from the principles of equality and fairness, which are the pillars of any democratic civil society. Both the aim and the main objective of the research make it extremely important, especially at this time, when the economic recession tends to overshadow other important sociopolitical issues, which mainly concern excluded groups, such as LGBT people