issue 1 09 - APS Member Groups - Australian Psychological Society

Multiculturalism and Whiteness25politically, -- ‘ethnics’ are positioned inAustralia as the other to Anglo Australianswho occupy a privileged, dominant andnormative position (Hage, 1998; Sonn &Fisher, 2005). This normative and privilegedposition has been named whiteness(Frankenberg, 1993). Arguably, beingpositioned outside the dominant cultureprovides a vantage point from which to makevisible dominance and dynamics of inclusionand exclusion (Ladson-Billings, 2003; Sonn,2004). Challenging normativity and dominanceis in line with a community psychology (e.g.,Watts & Serrano-García, 2003) agenda that isaimed at deconstructing and transformingtaken for granted discourses about race andethnicity that position self and others in abroader context of power relations. In thisarticle, we explore ethnic identity construction,with a focus on the negotiation of whiteness,from the perspectives of Cypriot Turks whogrew up in Australia.We draw on data from a research projectthat focused on dynamics of inclusion andexclusion and the discourses that construct themulti-hyphenated nature of the CypriotTurkish Australian identity (Ali, 2006; Ali &Sonn, in press). In this article we examine thenegotiation of whiteness through theexperiences of second generation CypriotTurks Australians. We consider two discoursesthat are used to construct Cypriot Turkishidentity and examine how whiteness isreproduced and privilege maintained throughthe construction of other identities. Before thiswe provide background to the Cypriot Turkishidentity and review literature on whiteness andwhiteness in an Australian context. This isfollowed by examining whiteness from thevantage point of Cypriot Turkish livedexperiences.Cypriot Turkish identity and migrationCypriot Turks are descendents of theOttoman Empire, who remained in poweruntil1878 when Cyprus was ceded to Britain.During this period the island was governedunder the Ottoman Millet system whereanyone who identified as other than Turkish hadto pay extra tax shaping the modern biculturalcommunity of the island (Hugg, 2001). Cyprusbecame an independent state in 1960 followingan agreement between Britain, Greece andTurkey, which recognised the two ethnic groupsas equal citizens under the new constitution(Gorvett, 1999; Hugg, 2001). However, thisconstitution collapsed during 1963 when thedrive for the unification of Cyprus with Greecegained momentum and ethnic cleansing becamewidespread. In response, Turkey intervened toprevent the unification of Cyprus with Greeceand to protect the Cypriot Turkish population(Peggs, 1998).The island has since been divided intotwo, with two separate governments. However,the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus(TRNC) is not recognised internationally byany other country besides Turkey (Gorvett,1999; Rotberg, 2003). Turkish Cypriots remainunrepresented in the international arena unlikethe Greek Cypriots who represent Cyprus ininternational political and social arenas(Bamanie, 2002). Due to the conflict around thelegitimacy of TRNC, the voices of CypriotTurks’ and the representations of Cyprus havebeen restricted making Cyprus, for those whoare not familiar with its history, a Greek Islandwith Cypriot Greek population.As a result of these historical and politicalprocesses, Cypriot Turks who identify as aCypriot lose their ‘Turkishness’ as Cyprus isrepresented as a Greek Island. On the otherhand, identification as a Turk leads to theassimilation of their identity with mainlandTurks. Although Cypriot Turks have strong tieswith the mainstream Turkish community, theyperceive themselves and are perceived bymainland Turks as different, on the basis thatthey are not from Turkey and differ in terms ofspeaking and cultural values such as level ofsecularity (Canefe, 2002).Due to the inter-communal conflict of the1950s and 1960s and the economical andpolitically unstable nature of Cyprus during the1970s and 1980s following the ongoingThe Australian Community Psychologist Volume 21 No 1 June 2009