Sitting, socializing & drinking exploring foreignness

Abstract

I’ve always been attracted to historic cafes dominated by men. They are environments rich with stories of the past and thoughts of the present, where life is pondered, explained, reflected and archived. My femaleness somehow wants to understand this male world, as if men were an entirely different species with a whole set of their own social rules and norms. This affinity follows me wherever I go, and in Gozo it was the same. I quickly found the perfect place to spend my time getting to know the local community, history and culture - Tapie’s Bar. The interesting aspect of a young, foreign woman entering an environment like a local pub is obvious - she definitely does not fit in. At Tapie’s this evident otherness initially caused me to reflect on what it means to be foreign in a new environment. At first it became clear that foreigners like myself did not participate in some of the social activity that the local customers partook in. In addition, it was apparent that my personal experience interacting at the bar was different from the experience of other foreigners who visited. Two questions naturally followed from these observations: what are the requirements for inclusion at Tapie’s Bar? And, what determines the degree of one’s foreignness? My fieldwork attempts to answer these questions and explore the concept of foreignness through my own experience as a foreign female researcher.