Iron in the Soul: Displacement, Livelihood and Health in Cyprus

by Peter Loizos

In his vivid, lively account of how Greek Cypriot villagers coped with a thirty-year displacement, Peter Loïzos follows a group of people whom he encountered as prosperous farmers in 1968, yet found as disoriented refugees when revisiting in 1975. By providing a forty year in-depth perspective unusual in the social sciences, this study yields unconventional insights into the deeper meanings of displacement. It focuses on reconstruction of livelihoods, conservation of family, community, social capital, health (both physical and mental), religious and political perceptions. The author argues for a closer collaboration between anthropology and the life sciences, particularly medicine and social epidemiology, but suggests that qualitative life-history data have an important role to play in the understanding of how people cope with collective stress.

Genres: Nonfiction

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics until his retirement in 2002, Peter was an eminent anthropologist who demonstrated a long term commitment both to the study of refugees and to the Refugee Studies Centre.

Peter was involved in the RSC almost from its inception, lecturing at the Centre's Summer School in Forced Migration, giving a highly praised Elizabeth Colson Lecture in 1998 on 'Half-life of the Ottoman Empire: long term studies of four communities, 1895–1995', and serving, in recent years, as a much valued Research Associate. He also used his prodigious knowledge of film to establish a documentary guide to films related to forced migration that is still used on courses taught at the RSC.

Peter's scholarship on refugees has also been highly influential. He published a number of important articles in the Journal of Refugee Studies on topics that included generations of forced migrants and on the health and well being of Cypriot refugees. His book on Cypriot refugees, The Heart Grown Bitter, prompted by his own ancestry, is widely cited by scholars to this day. Other works included pieces on 'misconceiving refugees' and Iron in the Soul, a book on displacement, livelihoods and health in Cyprus.

Peter Loizos' dedication and scholarship have profoundly influenced the modern field of refugee studies