Dr Christiana Themistocleous

Christiana's main interests fall within the area of sociolinguistics and multilingualism.

Her current research explores multilingualism in communities with histories of conflict. She has been conducting ethnographic research in Cyprus since 2016, focusing on the Greek-Cypriot/Turkish-Cypriot divide. Using the Linguistic Landscape approach, Christiana investigates how public spaces are socially constructed through the use of multilingual public signs. She addresses issues related to identities, ideologies, power relations and agency. She explores how social actors evaluate and experience spaces near and within the UN-controlled buffer zone, that divides the two communities. She is also interested in dark tourism and more specifically how Nicosia’s ‘traumascapes’ are now commodified into popular tourists sites. She explores how tour guides who act as ‘educators’ mediate the meanings of these spaces and their representations to various audiences.

In 2025 Christiana started working on an impact case study which aims to enhance dialogue between the two communities and make a significant contribution to promoting peaceful cohabitation and intercultural respect. Using Linguistic Landscape pedagogies, Christiana conducted empowering research, bringing together educators across the divide who joined forces to create supplementary educational material which will be used for teacher training courses in the Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot communities.