la educación de la memoria en la formación del ciudadano: el caso del curriculum greco-chipriota

Abstract

“I don’t forget and I struggle” is a phrase that decorates all Greek Cypriot classrooms. Since 1974 the phrase has become the symbol of an educational system that has fostered the collective memory of new generations of Greek Cypriots who were born in conditions of semi-occupation, under the weight of an unresolved political problem. In this paper we review the Greek Cypriot educational context in the period since the 1974 Turkish invasion and we argue that the kind of collective memory it has fostered contradicts the declared curricular goals of citizenship for a pluralistic and democratic society. We argue that European citizenship education, with its emphasis on overcoming past conflicts through shared political values, could be the key for a new citizenship ideal both for Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.