The Ecology of Coexistence and Conflict in Cyprus : Exploring the Religion, Nature, and Culture of a Mediterranean Island

What is the significance of sustainable resource management for the functioning of Mediterranean island societies? How do human-environment relations reflect in a multi-ethnic religious landscape? This book poses these questions in the context of the Ottoman, British, and modern history of Cyprus. It explores the socio-ecological dimension of the Cyprus conflict and considers the role of local environmental practices for historical coexistence and modern division. The book synthesizes theoretical approaches from the research on 'religion and ecology' with the anthropology of Cyprus, with the goal to develop and establish an ecological perspective on coexistence and conflict in the Mediterranean. Religion is seen as the place where local representations of nature and traditions of resource management are generated and maintained. The work takes a comparative look at the impact of Eastern Orthodox and Islamic institutions on the island's landscape, as well as the religious and economic practices of the rural peasant communities. The findings are then spelled out in the context of current discourses on religion, environmental ethics, and social justice. 1. Introduction 11 PART I 21 2. Chapter 1: Nature, culture and religion in theory: an exploration of ideas 23 2.1. Tracing Western thought on nature 23 2.2. Culture and religion in classical evolution 29 2.3. Nature and culture in American neoevolutionism 33 2.3.1. Religion in American neoevolutionism 35 2.4. Ecosystem and religion: restoring balance on islands 37 2.4.1. Ecosystem and religion I: Roy Rappaport 38 2.4.2. Ecosystem and religion II: Stephen Lansing 42 2.5. From contextuality to cognition: sum ergo cogito 45 2.5.1. Sharing culture through ecological relations 48 2.5.2. Folkecology and religious belief 50 2.5.3. Religion and adaption 53 3. Chapter 2: Nature, culture and religion in Mediterranean context 56 3.1. The prehistory of islands settlement: inputs from the Mediterranean Neolithic 56 3.2. Contemplating cultural unity: three synoptics of the historical Mediterranean 59 3.2.1. Honour and shame: a Mediterranean unity of values 64 4. Chapter 3: Environmental ethics and ecotheology: a discourse on values 67 4.1. Indigeneity and the ethics of nature conservation 67 4.2. The historical roots of our ecological crisis 71 4.3. Eastern Orthodox ecotheology: tracing Eastern thoughts on nature 75 4.3.1. Principles of Orthodox ecotheology: icons, liturgy and asceticism 78 4.4. Islamic ecotheology: the doctrine of unity 82 4.4.1. Creation as trust: principles of Islamic nature conservation 84 4.5. Eastern Orthodox and Islamic ecotheology in comparison 86 PART II 89 5. Chapter 4: Cyprus in the Ottoman Mediterranean: a historical introduction to Part II 91 5.1. New paradigms for an Ottoman Mediterranean 92 5.2. Agricultural patterns, agrarian cycles and the rural economy 93 5.3. Ottoman island society and statepeasant relations 97 5.4. The Church of Cyprus as Ottoman stakeholder: an economy of nationbuilding 100 6. Chapter 5: The ecology of coexistence 105 6.1. The texture of neighbourhood: from social to ecological parameters 105 6.2. Religious belonging and residential patterns in Ottoman Cyprus 109 6.3. The Ottoman system of land administration 111 6.4. Land, forests and water: ecological strategies of Ottoman Cyprus 116 7. Chapter 6: Religion and ecology in premodern Cyprus 126 7.1. Institutional conservation and resource management 127 7.2. Local religion: property, folklore and ethnoecology 132 7.2.1. Folklore studies: tree worship and the problem of survivals 134 7.3. Syncretism and the discourse on Mediterranean plurality 139 7.4. Syncretism in Cyprus: developing an ecocognitive approach 144 PART III 149 8. Chapter 7: From colonial rule to modern division: a historical introduction to Part III 151 8.1. Colonial division 151 8.2. Postcolonial division 155 9. Chapter 8: the ecology of conflict 160 9.1. British colonial landscapes: a vision of orderliness and control 161 9.1.1. British agricultural reforms: modernizing property 165 9.2. The rise of the realestate market: commodification and conflict 166 9.2.1. The land market as a setting of ethnic conflict 168 9.3. Property relations after division: the property issue 169 10. Chapter 9: Nature conservation and sustainability in conflict discourse 176 10.1. An environmental conflict? Nature conservation and intercommunal relations 176 10.2. The Akamas issue: a tragedy of the commons 179 10.3. Environmentalism in Cyprus: a postcolonial perspective 182 10.4. Nationalism and the ecumenical: considering ecclesiastical politics 185 10.4.1. A concern for landscape: the Church and the cultural heritage in the North 188 11. Conclusion 191 12. Appendix 194 13. Bibliography 195 Subject Index 215 What is the significance of sustainable resource management for the functioning of Mediterranean island societies? How do human-environment relations reflect in a multi-ethnic religious landscape? This book poses these questions in the context of the Ottoman, British, and modern history of Cyprus. It explores the socio-ecological dimension of the Cyprus Conflict and considers the role of local environmental practices in historical coexistence and modern division. The book synthesizes theoretical approaches from research on 'religion and ecology' with the anthropology of Cyprus, with the goal of developing and establishing an ecological perspective on coexistence and conflict in the Mediterranean. (Publisher)