Constructing ‘the Turk’ as an Enemy: The Complexity of Stereotypes in Children's Everyday Worlds

Abstract

The information presented in this chapter is drawn from ethnographic fieldwork with Greek Cypriot elementary school children and illustrates the process by which national identity is constructed as primordial by teachers and children at school. In this process, the Turks become the primary Other, against whom a sense of Self is constructed. However, in-depth interviews with children outside the school show that their constructions of the Turks can be more complex and nuanced, and thus less stereotypical, especially when the children are encouraged to reflect on who the Turks really are.