Border encounters: How children navigate space and otherness in an ethnically divided society

Abstract

he article draws on ethnographic material from an ongoing study which explores 10- to 12-year-old Greek Cypriot children’s experiences of crossing to the north, the occupied part of Cyprus. By focusing on the act of crossing and the actual physical experience of visiting the occupied territories, the study seeks to highlight the mechanisms implicated in the construction of ethnic difference as children move through spaces and places and encounter ‘others’. The article argues that to understand how children navigate ethnic divisions in the context of these visits, we need to attend to the role of place-making in the construction of identity.