Research Unit in Behaviour and Social Issues - Nicosia, Cyprus

Our mission is to improve understanding of the processes and mechanisms which influence the health and well-being of the Cypriot population.

Ethnicity and Race in Contemporary Cyprus

Policy and Practice: Ethnicity and Race in Contemporary Cyprus

The research began in January 2006 and was completed in Dec 2007

Funders/ Contributors

Host Organization: RUBSI

Funding: Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation

Scientific Coordinator

DrConstantinos Phellas, Director of RUBSI and Associate Professor atSchool of Humanities, Social Sciences & Law, Intercollege, andDirector of RUBSI, Nicosia, Cyprus

Coordinator

Dr Mike Hadjimike, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities, Social Sciences & Law,  Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Partners

• Professor John Solomos, City University, UK.
• Dr Liza Schuster, City University, London, UK.
• Dr David Officer, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities, Social Sciences & Law, Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus.
• Dr Tao Papaioannou, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities, Social Sciences & Law, Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Background Information

Overthe last three decades Cyprus has experienced many socio-demographicchanges. This research project aimed to analyse these in depth withregard to issues of discrimination based on ‘race’ and / or‘ethnicity’. It is estimated that there are approximately 80,000 peoplein the Republic of Cyprus who are of non-Cypriot origin – representing10% of the total population. These people vary in terms of economicclass, ethnic origin, residence, and occupational status. It has oftenbeen argued that discrimination based on particular grounds, such asrace, ethnicity, gender, or creed can be an elusive subject matter forthe social scientist, as most people, particularly in decision-makingpositions may not openly profess to being opinionated in a negative andpartial manner.

The policy and practice survey with regard toethnicity and race in contemporary Cyprus assessed how different peoplein society view discrimination. This was done through in depthinterviews with people who have experienced discrimination. In turnthese findings will be contrasted with questionnaires carried outamongst people who allegedly discriminate. This double edgedmethodological approach aims to explore both the ‘lived’ and‘perceived’ experience of discrimination, along with the dimension thatis often ignored, namely its operational practice.

In addition athorough analysis was conducted regarding past and present policies onissues of racial and ethnic inequality. These policies were alsocontrasted with our EU partners with the end aim of making an in-depthcomparative analysis. After combining this with our interview resultssuggestions were made on policy changes, improvements and the adoptionof more suitable codes of practice. Professor John Solomos, adistinguished overseas scientist of Cypriot origin, was the head of ourresearch team. As one of Europe’s leading academic authorities on thissubject matter, Professor John Solomos, with a team of experts fromCity University London worked in collaboration with our host team ofacademics and researchers in Cyprus.  By working with our colleagues atCity University we believe there will be an enhanced value for Cyprusthrough connecting with their experienced academic and researchinfrastructure on issues of race, ethnicity and discrimination. Thishas also been of great benefit to our team of researchers in Cyprus. Byenabling them to work on such a project we contributed to not onlyraising the academic profile of the Host Organisation but also toimproving the society we live in through constructive and dynamicpolicy changing research. 

The project had the following objectives:

1. Reviewingall the literature and statistics with the intention of providing asolid background on the subject matter. A literature review like thishas not been conducted to date and we believe it is a prerequisiteobjective of any in depth study on discrimination in Cyprus.
2. Raisingboth academic awareness and encouraging debate on issues ofdiscrimination on ethnic and racial grounds through the contribution ofProfessor John Solomos as a Distinguished Overseas Academic.
3. Analysingthe existence of different groupings in contemporary Cyprus through‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ categorical definitions with the intentionof contrasting how people are defined ‘officially’ with how they definethemselves in terms of group identity. The latter is important inunderstanding the evolution of identity through cultural andorganizational activities as indicators of group affiliation andbehaviour.
4. Examining discrimination as both a lived, personalexperience and as a form of institutionalised practice. This is a keyobjective for our team, as we believe it is important not to limit thisstudy to a mere summation of subjective individual accounts. Such anapproach would simply trivialize individual accounts without placingthem in their appropriate societal context. Inequality anddiscrimination based on race and ethnicity are realities that need tobe addressed and rectified.
5. Devising a methodological approachthat can be calibrated to the previous objective. One that is groundedin ‘lived’ experiences through in depth interviews.
6. Comparingand contrasting local policies on racial and ethnic discrimination withthose in our partner EU states. This was  done with reference to codesof practice, the existence or non-existence of Racial Equality or EqualOpportunity Commissions and involvement in political processes (such asvoting rights, political party and union membership).
7. Recommendingconcrete policy changes that could be applied to eliminate forms ofethnic and racial discrimination in Cyprus. This research project canmake effective and viable proposals for key government officials,organisations and policy makers.
8. Disseminating findings throughacademic conferences, an Internet web page, mass media channels andorganisations that campaign against racial and ethnic discrimination.
9. Contributingto the foundation and development of new monitoring mechanisms andinfrastructures in Cyprus, based on EU policies and practices that willchallenge and alleviate the persistence of forms of discrimination onracial or ethnic grounds.
10. Developing future avenues forpan-European initiatives that link research in Cyprus with academiccolleagues and organisations in the rest of the EU.

Project’s Innovation

Theinnovation in this project is multifaceted. In the first instancehaving a widely respected Distinguished Overseas Scientist such asProfessor John Solomos to head the research team is a major asset notonly to the research but to the wider academic social sciencescommunity in Cyprus.  It is the first time that such a high rankingacademic is involved in this field of research in Cyprus.

Additionally,issues of race and ethnicity in Cyprus with regard to discriminationare often taken for granted through both a lack of policy and sometimes lack of awareness on the implications of existing policy andpractice. When these realities are placed against the backdrop of ourrecent EU accession, it is apparent that in many ways there is muchroom for improvement. Our study reveals issues of discrimination withregard to race and ethnicity through an in depth qualitativeepistemological analysis – which up till now has not been conducted incontemporary Cyprus.

The expert research team shares the opinionthat Cypriot society is changing demographically and we do not onlyinterpret and reflect these changes but also suggest ways, through thedevelopment of new policies, in which inequality with regard to raceand ethnicity can be alleviated and avoided. It is in this finalmission that we believe this project has a valuable innovativedimension, as it offers recommendations for policy to become morereflective of diverse needs and situations. This quality is central tothe research process. By locating Cyprus in a comparative EU contextthe research’s findings will be better equipped to improve practices,develop policies and infrastructures that are more in line with an EUanti-discrimination environment.

Project’s Methodology

Theresearch project utilized both quantitative and qualitative researchmethods as we believe a combined approach is more suitable to thesubject matter. In trying to analyse how people are discriminatedagainst on ethnic or racial grounds it is important to devise amethodology that is:

• Sensitive to people’s individual lived experiences of discrimination
• Effective in its analysis of the societal dimensions of these forms of discrimination
• Offers concrete proposals for making changes in policy and practice.

This is achieved in the following ways:

Athorough quantitative analysis of official immigration statistics hasbeen carried out. This is supplemented with an analysis of past andpresent policies on immigration in Cyprus. These findings were alsocontrasted with how people within different groups in society viewthemselves in terms of their own identity and position in Cyprus.

A qualitative analysis was then carried out in three stages:

Contactswere made with community groups and associations and focus groups tookplace with the intention of understanding better these diversecommunities and their specific concerns and problems. These focusgroups were held in different locations and were facilitated via keyfigures in our research team. They also acted as a means of buildingtrust and communication with different communities, thus enabling theresearch team to be more accepted in the interview stage of the project

Indepth interviews with a representative sample of people who have hadfirst hand experiences of discrimination on ethnic or racial grounds.This included 300 participant interviewees selected from differentcommunities. These interviews were semi-structured, with key areas ofexploration on specific themes concerning exclusion and inclusion insociety. For example initial experiences in the host country,encounters with government institutions, and employers. Data from theseinterviews were then processed with the intention of exploring specificareas of common concern or anxiety expressed by the participants onspecific issues concerning institutions and organisations.

Followingon from this, questionnaires were carried out with people ininstitutions and organisations, based on the findings of the first 300in depth interviews. These questionnaires were more structuredcontaining a range of hypothetical optional situations on differentpeople in society (divided along ethnic/racial lines).

Thefindings of both questionnaires were compared and contrasted with theobjective of tracing commonalities, differences, tendencies andco-relations. They were central to the second phase of the researchproject (i.e. in-depth study of EU state polices) as well as to thefinal recommendations on policy improvement and new codes of practiceto be finalised through this project.

The results of the study were presented on the 19th of December 2007 (see News)

21st May. 2010