Ο χρόνος και ο χώρος ως ρητορικά εφόδια για την κατασκευή της ελληνικής εθνικής ταυτότητας: Η μουσουλμανική μειονότητα της Θράκης στο λόγο φοιτητών παιδαγωγικών τμημάτων

Abstract

Although time and space constitute inherent elements of identities, mainly of national and ethnic identities, those notions seldom become the focal point of socio-psychological research. Researchers following Social Identity Theory have argued that comparisons of the same national identity in different timelines can be used instead of comparisons to other national identities, which in turn can be interpreted as an absence of ingroup bias. Nonetheless, researchers who follow the turn to language have traced argumentative resources within which temporal comparisons and spatial representations of the nation are used by speakers in order to avoid comparisons between nations, that could potentially leave them open to charges of chauvinism. The present paper, drawing on the theoretical and methodological principles of Critical Discursive Social Psychology, examines the way inwhich students of the educational departments in Thrace mobilize time and space as argumentative lines in order to construct the identity of the Muslim minority of Thrace. It is argued that often time and space are used in rhetorical strategies disclaiming racism, presenting the difference of the minority as a matter of time, or as a matter of residence in “rural” communities that have not adopted the urban way of life. These findings are discussed in relation to how discourse analysis can offer a way to incorporate time and space in the theoreticaldiscussions of social psychology regarding national identity.