Enriching the subject of Greek Literature with the experience of the ‘other’: an approach that fosters citizenship education in Cyprus

Abstract

This article reports on a research project that explored the potential to integrate autobiographical work emphasising personal experiences of exclusion and marginalisation into the Greek Literature curriculum followed in Greek-Cypriot schools. Given the difficulties encountered in Cyprus in promoting changes in attitudes towards diversity, we discuss the autobiographical poems of the disabled Turkish-Cypriot poet Orkun Bozkurt with the aim of strengthening efforts to foster citizenship education in Cyprus. One aspect of the study involved the analysis and comparison of Bozkurt's poems with those traditionally employed in the Greek Literature curriculum. By taking this analysis as a baseline, we designed and implemented an intervention programme that aimed at changing the attitudes of adult students towards the ‘Other’. Our findings suggest that changes in attitudes are possible, provided that traditional teaching methods and materials are enriched with alternative materials that represent typically underrepresented groups of people, and also that the teaching methods adopted encourage active involvement and critical thinking among students.

Keywords:

• citizenship education
• disability
• national identity
• Greek Literature
• Cyprus

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge all the participants of the study for their valuable contribution and Frixos Ioannou who kindly facilitated the interpretation of Orkun Bozkurt's poems in Greek.