Stranger/Europe

Drawing on the working methods of imagology, this article surveys the way in which an implicit or tacit European self-image has taken shape over the centuries through contrast with two non-European Others: the New World and the Mediterranean. The article shows how these two others merge into a self-image of European alienation and moral perplexity following the devastations of the Second World War: the European cities have become kasbahs, Europe has become its own Other.