Otherness, strangeness, foreignness, as attributions of self or other are accidental states. As such, they are not bound to fixed categories and, once assigned, remain negotiable, changeable and finite. The MGRK ‚Strange/rs in the city‘ is dedicated, in a historical perspective, to the the complex and polyphonic processes through which such attributions of being a stranger, as well as the social demarcations and experiences of diversity that come with itare produced in urban environments.
Cities, due to their density of population and complex interplay of different social groups and formations, form a promising analytical framework for the study of social differentiation. What are the cultural mechanisms by which the stranger, or groups of strangers, manifest themselves (or are manifested) within urban societies and spaces? Together, we ask about the dynamics, speeds, catalysts and turning points of the differentiations at work in selected historical case-studies, as well as about the written and material traces that these constellations have left behind. In their synthesis, the studies involved in the MGRK framework inspire reflection on similarities, differences and variables that distinguish the various cases, as well as on shared heuristic, theoretical and methodological challenges.
Through its comparative perspective, which spans a period from Graeco-Roman antiquity to the 19th century, and cultural settings from the Roman West to the Ottoman Mediterranean, the MGRK project offers an innovative analytical framework to provide new impulses and historical depth to the study of social differentiation. Thus the MRGK reaches beyond the historical perspectve and contributes to studies in the cultural fabric of societies that are of direct relevance to contemporary debates. Our starting point is the common observation that key moments can be identified in each of our research contexts in which previously latent or implicit differentiation potentials within urban society condense, solidify or even dissolve again in such a way that they become visible and explicable both for the organising, normative authorities in urban space and for actors and groups themselves, who subsequently see themselves as separate from the rest of society.
The case studies are developed in four sub-projects, each addressing a different historical setting. The shared focus of the dissertations is on people coming to the city from outside and appear as foreigners or are perceived and categorised as foreign. The spectrum of the eligible case studies ranges from soldiers and religious groups in Roman antiquity to guests and merchants in the medieval city to housemaids in the Ottoman Empire around 1900. We are particularly interested in the interactions between the concepts applied and the norms set by authorities as well as the self-perception and social positioning of the people conceptualised as foreign.
The four projects will each specifically focus either economic, religious or social contexts. Joint access via the lens of strangeness or acting as a stranger opens up comparative perspectives and spaces for an overarching discussion of these factors. Common questions and theoretical approaches can be developed in particular on the basis of the following thematic axes:
A) Concepts: What concepts, ideas and norms are involved in the negotiation of strangeness and the separation of autonomous social spaces?
B) Performances: How is the autonomy of separate spaces of action marked, challenged or suspended by speech or non-linguistic practices?
C) Connectivity: Which spaces, connections and boundaries play a role in the negotiation of concepts of strangeness?
D) City: How do the characteristics of the urban space shape these phenomena?