Since the deconstruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the island of Cyprus possesses the only divided capital city in the world. Across a symbolic green line, life in the North and South is dramatically different. This charged atmosphere is not the typical study abroad destination.
Nine UW-Madison students had the opportunity this summer to travel to Cyprus, the Mediterranean island at the \crossroads of Europe and the Middle East,"" for a three-week seminar entitled ""Mapping a Diverse Cyprus: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Religion."" The experience served as an opportunity for the students to correct some ""American misperceptions,"" to view social divisions in a modern context and to see the ties between these divisions and problems here in the United States.
""When people study abroad, they have this idea of going to 'another country'; there is a lack of connection between what is going on right here,"" said Youssef Sawan, a UW-Madison senior involved in the trip. ""This is about seeing what life's like on the other side. This is always important.""
From 1955 to 1959, Cyprus was engaged in a struggle for independence that ended with a Turkish invasion and the splitting of the island in 1983. Cyprus is currently divided along its capital city, Nicosia, into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Republic of Cyprus. No country in the world officially recognizes the Northern Turkish Republic; it is an invaded territory. Following the split, native Cypriots moved from the North in a vast migration that turned more than one-third of the island's occupants into refugees.
""When I think of refugees I think of tents and poor conditions, but this is not the case,"" said UW-Madison sophomore BethAnne Freund.
In fact, the economy of the South is seven times better off than the economy of the North, said Freund. As of 2003, the borders between North and South Cyprus have been reopened. However, the social barriers have yet to be removed.
The students soon realized the social stratifications between North and South were not unlike those that divide American communities.
""I love talking to the politicians about similarities between Cyprus and the U.S.,"" said UW-Madison senior Joe Philipsek. ""What's going on in both [countries] is the misinforming of society. The challenge in Cyprus is to see their neighbors as they really are.\
