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oai:figshare.com:article/33352251 2026-09-30T11:43:37Z category_29725 portal_921 item_type_11 month_year_09_2026

Idyllic Times and Spaces? Memories of Childhood Visits to the Parental Homeland by Second-Generation Greeks and Cypriots Forced Migration Online (24276783) Migration, asylum and refugee law FORCED MIGRATION ONLINE RETURN MIGRATION SETTLEMENTS CHILDREN EXTENDED FAMILY This paper focuses on one aspect of a wider comparative study of second-generation Greek- Americans, Greek-Germans and British-born Greek Cypriots who have 'returned' to Greece and Cyprus. We analyse those parts of their life-narratives which refer to childhood visits to their ancestral homes in Greece and Cyprus. In nearly all cases these are memories of idyllic times and spaces – of beaches and the sea, of villages and the countryside, and of fine weather and happy times spent with extended families. The key trope running through these memories of childhood visits is freedom: how children were allowed to 'roam free' until late at night, in contrast to the strict parenting and limited spatial and temporal freedom they experienced in the host country. However, different and sometimes less pleasant memories emerge when the visits took on a different character: for instance, when longer-term stays resulted from children being 'sent back' to be cared for by relatives, or when the children were older teenagers. In the second part of the paper, connections are made between these childhood times in the 'homeland' and subsequent decisions, later in life, to return to Greece or Cyprus for a longerterm settlement. In general the hypothesis that childhood visits were instrumental in fostering a sense of belonging in the homeland, preparing the way for the adult return, is only partially supported. Returns take place for a whole set of individualised reasons. 2026-09-30T11:43:37Z Text Online resource 10.25446/oxford.33352251.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Idyllic_Times_and_Spaces_Memories_of_Childhood_Visits_to_the_Parental_Homeland_by_Second-Generation_Greeks_and_Cypriots/33352251 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0