Генеалогия на активизма и семиотика на градското пространство: културни и социални практики във вътрешна Никозия през XXI век = Genealogies of activism and the semiotics of urban space: cultural and social practices in 21st Century Inner Nicosia

Ioannou, G. (2016) Генеалогия на активизма и семиотика на градското пространство: културни и социални практики във вътрешна Никозия през XXI век = Genealogies of activism and the semiotics of urban space: cultural and social practices in 21st Century Inner Nicosia. Bulgarian Ethnology, XLII(2), pp. 276-298.

Abstract

This article traces the development of urban activism centered in the area of inner Nicosia (focusing on its southern part) in the last two decades. It provides an overview of the main alternative social and cultural practices in the city through a discussion of meaning attribution by various different groups co-existing, sometimes converging and sometimes diverging but expressing directly and indirectly in various ways and forms their dissent from the mainstream ideologies. The focus is on specific initiatives and small social movements contesting existing institutions, structures and processes such as the division of the city (and country), consumerist lifestyles etc and engaging in semiotic struggles over the definition and interpretation of the city and the right to it. It thus offers an account of the development of an open community rooted in inner Nicosia formed on the basis on social networks and cultural traits as these have been constituted through specific radical politics and ideational frames. The analysis stands at the intersection of social movements, urban studies and communication while the primary methodology is ethnography. It adopts a historical perspective examining the key processes under way at the turn of the Century in the city of Nicosia and then discusses explicitly two particular forms of cultural and social contestation that have emerged in 2009-2010 and 2011- 2012 arguing that their understanding must be based on the genealogy of events and dynamics that preceded their emergence.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ioannou, Dr Gregoris
• Authors: Ioannou, G.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: Bulgarian Ethnology
• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• ISSN: 1310–5213
• ISSN (Online): 2367-6892