ABSTRACT
Loizos was visiting his fieldwork site, which was also his father’s natal village in Cyprus, for the first time. His arrival was a matter for family celebration, and he was being treated as an honoured member of his Cypriot family. At this feast, toasts were drunk, speeches made, and stories told. Loizos was guest of honour, and also a researcher trying not to blot his copybook before he had even begun. Loizos describes the difficulties of being a stranger in an alien culture, who cannot help but be a centre of attention. Flecker’s poem talks of ‘the Orient sand’ which is warm and deep and ‘hides the beauty and bright faith of those who made the Golden Journey to Samarkand’ (p. 90). This chapter is about keeping the researcher’s beauty and bright faith alive, not sinking into the warm sand, and maximizing the research insight that can be gained while the researcher is still an alien.
