Since Georg Simmel's famous definition of the stranger as a migrating person "who comes today and stays tomorrow" many studies on sociology, history, literature, culture and philosophy have deepened our knowledge of description and meaning of the stranger. Today, one has to add with Rudolf Stichweh's observation that the stranger is also someone "who maybe, but only maybe, continues to migrate the day after tomorrow". For a long time, early modern society has been depicted as mainly immobile and cohesive. A closer look, however, reveals that encounters with strangers was an everyday, though not trivial, experience well before the mass migrations of the 20th century. The Mongolians who invaded Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages influenced Europe as strangers, as did the Turks from the 16th century as well as foreign traders and religious exiles. Conversely, many people from Europe moved into foreign countries, observed the people whom they found "strange" and experienced first hand what it means to be a stranger.
Explorers and conquerors, commissioned by European monarchs, collected such experiences, as did missionaries or the many emigrants. These processes have been intensely but not yet exhaustively explored.

These encounters with strangers, whether firsthand or imparted by media, were not without impact on the historical consciousness of both the migrants and the permanent residents. The international and interdisciplinary colloquy at the Institute of European History in Mainz will pursue this aggregate of themes by exploring the consequences of the experiences of and with strangers for historical consciousness: What did the encounter with immigrating strangers mean for the historical consciousness of a society, and its political, social, religious and moral orientation over time? How did the historical consciousness of a group of emigrants or immigrants change when they were in a new country? What were the consequences of the "discovery" of new countries and cultures for the historical consciousness in Europe and in what ways did non-European historical consciousness change by contact with migrating Europeans?

These questions will be treated under three headings: The Stranger in One's Own Country (immigration), The Stranger in Another's Country (emigration) and The Perception of Strangers in Foreign Countries. Genuine historiography can be addressed, as well as historical concepts and interpretations of history. Topics could be:

1. The Stranger in One's Own Country (some of the topics could be treated under the second heading as well, by looking at it from the other group's perspective)
- German/English etc. historiography on Huguenots
- christianized Africans/Asians etc. visiting Europe in the long 19th century
- the integration of the arrival of Europeans in the historical consciousness of non-European cultures (China, Japan, Latin America)
- Polish people in the Ruhr Area
- Turks in the Balkans
- Russians in Poland
- Englishmen in Ireland
- Finns in Russia

2. The Stranger in Another's Country
- historiography of religious exiles
- historical consciousness of emigrants, for instance to the Americas, in the 19th century
- the encounter of colonial rulers, traders and missionaries with non-European cultures
- modifications of the historical consciousness in Europe by the socially or religiously motivated emigration of certain groups

3. The Perception of Strangers in Foreign Countries
- modifications of the historical consciousness in Europe by the "discovery" of non-European countries and cultures
- the encounter of different groups of migrants in a third country
- the depiction of strangers in literature or fine arts, related to history
- the meaning of non-European cultures for European historiography/philosophy of history (for instance Max Weber)

The colloquium is organised by the research group "Change of values and historical consciousness" of the Institute of European History in Mainz. Conference languages will be German and English. Expenses for travel and accommodation will be paid by the Institute of European History.

We are looking forward to proposals by researchers of all historical disciplines such as history, church and religious history, ethnology, studies of literature, and art history. Please submit an exposé of not more than 3000 characters, a short CV and, if extant, a list of publications before 10 November 2009. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us.

The conference will take place at the Institute of European History in Mainz, 22-24 July 2010