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Between Intimacy and Intolerance

Greek Cypriot children's encounters with Asian domestic workers

Centre for the Study of Childhood and Adolescence, Cyprus, s.spyrou{at}euc.ac.cy

This article explores how Greek Cypriot elementary school children construct their identities in relation to Sri Lankan and Filipino women who come to Cyprus as domestic workers. The article focuses primarily on the views of children whose families employ these women; however, the views of children whose families do not employ domestic workers are also explored to illustrate how these women are popularly constructed in children's imaginations and in the absence of direct daily interaction with them. The study reveals that children access different cultural discourses and construct identities that are often ambivalent and contradictory and are revealing of new forms of nationalism and racism. For the children whose families employ domestic workers, the home becomes an arena for renegotiating their status as children in their interactions with these women. Thus, the encounter between Self and Other becomes critical to understanding reconstituted definitions of childhood and adulthood.

Key Words: children • Cyprus • domestic work • home • identities • nationalism • racism

Childhood, Vol. 16, No. 2, 155-173 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0907568209104399


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