Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Foreignness
(1,101 words)

1. Definition

Foreignness emerges in thinking about people from elsewhere or perceiving them. People only become foreign where locals see them as “different” and classify them as alien. Foreignness is thus not a constant, but always relative and generally local. Where people are found to be “foreign” in their own homeland (Fatherland, motherland), this constitutes a special variant of foreignness (e.g. Jewish diaspora).

The relationship between the loc…

Cite this page
Hering Torres, Max Sebastián, “Foreignness”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_019465>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



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