Living in the Dead Zone: Space, Mobility, and the (Non)Integration of Asylum Seekers in Cyprus

Abstract

Drawing on a wide array of previous anthropological work on migration, humanitarianism, and exclusion as well as theories of nation and state power, this thesis investigates the economic, political, and social structures that dictate the lives and movement of asylum seekers and disrupt their efforts to integrate into Cypriot society, leaving them, essentially, “stuck” in a liminal space. I explore the systematic exclusion of asylum seekers as they move across borders, around the city, and through humanitarian spaces, as well as how these individuals understand and contend with the barriers they face—barriers in which conceptions of race, gender, nation, and the lingering history of the Greek-Turkish divide all play a role. Finally, I propose a model of humanitarian space that could help to mitigate asylum seekers’ sense of isolation and help them to forge connections in their new context. This thesis is based on approximately three months of fieldwork in Nicosia, the capital of the Republic of Cyprus, during which I worked at a humanitarian organization serving asylum seekers, conducted semi-structured interviews with migrants and humanitarian workers, and shadowed individual asylum seekers as they engaged in everyday activities.