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Turkish Village
Paul Stirling
Copyright 1965, 1994 Paul Stirling. All rights reserved
PREFACE
Traditionally, anthropological field work has involved the
adventure and physical discomfort of living in remote places,
and at the same time, the intellectual surprises and emotional
upheaval of making oneself, even partially and temporarily,
a part of a relatively closed and culturally strange society.
Some of those who nowadays work in familiar or in
industrial societies may miss something of this experience;
but although Turkey is a modern European nation and Islam
is in many ways close to Christianity, Sakaltutan and Elbashi
provided my wife and myself with plenty of adventure, and
an indelible experience, both intellectual and emotional, of
adjustment to the day-to-day life of a culturally alien
community.
The whole research project was made possible by the grant
of a Senior Studentship from H.M. Treasury, and I am most
grateful not only for the studentship, but also for the under
standing way in which it was administered. My major debt of
gratitude is to Professor Evans-Pritchard, who welcomed me
into the Institute of Social Anthropology in January 1948,
gave me encouragement in my plans, and supported my wife
and myself with professional guidance and personal
friendship. We should like to thank warmly Professor
Fortes, who gave us much of his time, and also, for
friendship, instruction and many profitable discussions,
Profsessor Max Gluckman and the other members of the
Institute between 1948 and 1951, both staff and students.
My friends, both colleagues and students, at the London
School of Economics have of course done much to teach me
and supply me with ideas; in particular I should like to thank
Professor Firth and Professor Gellner for reading the manu-
script and making helpful suggestions, and Professor
Schapera who performed this task; twice on different
versions, surely a rare service to a junior colleague. Many
people have helped with preparing the text. In particular,
Miss Dorothy Thompson,
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Mrs Marjory Taylor and Mrs Ingrid Lyles helped with the typing,
and Mrs Eunice Wilson of the L.S.E. Geography Drawing Office
offered professional advice as well as skill in preparing the maps
and diagrams. Mrs Pamela Hunter and Mrs Marion Horn kindly
read through the manuscript for editorial comment.
It was our good fortune to have for our first teacher of Turkish
Professor Fahir Iz, then a lecturer at Oxford, and he and his wife
have proved permanent friends. Through him we met Professor
and Mrs Aydm Yal n whose family in Ankara offered us the
hospitality of their home, and who gave us many introductions to
their friends. We enjoyed warm hospitality from Ankara
University through the kindness of the Rector, and among many
friends on the staff I should particularly like to mention Professor
Irfan Sahinbas, who taught us Turkish. Dr H. Z. Kosay, of the
Ethnological Museum in Ankara, and Professor Z. F. Findikoglu,
of Istanbul University, were unfailingly kind and helpful.
Arrived in Turkey, we received great kindness and much
practical help from members of the British Council and the
British Embassy, and I should like to acknowledge the friendly
co-operation of the British School of Archaeology in Athens, and
the personal kindness of the Director, Seton Lloyd, and his wife.
We were fortunate also to meet in Ankara Professor and Mrs
Richard D. Robinson, whose knowledge of Turkey, and whose
enthusiasm for our studies have been invaluable.
Our field work was aided in many practical and indispensable
ways, and our spirits periodically revived by friendship and
comfort at the American School and Clinic at Talas. Mr and Mrs
Paul Nilson and the School staff were kindness itself, and Dr and
Mrs W. L. Nute Senior nursed us through dangerous illnesses,
freely opened their private home to us, and helped us
immeasurably by their knowledge of the area, and their co-
operation in dealing with the problems of our village friends.
To the Turkish Government we owe gratitude for permission to
work in a rural area, and for much help and co-operation. I
should also like to thank the two Valis of Kayseri during our field
work, and all their officials in Kayseri, Talas, Bünyan and Elba  .
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But our greatest debt, plainly, is to the people of Sakaltutan
and Elba , who made welcome two total strangers who came
to pry into the life of their villages, and did a vast amount by
their affection and practical help to support and assist us. In
the seas of snow, to use their own phrase, on those open hills,
in the winter of 1949-50, the help of the villagers was a
condition of survival. These are friends we shall always
remember with pleasure and gratitude.
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Proceed to Chapter 1 - Turkish Village
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