The Routledge Handbook of Peripheries in European Studies

Overview & Synopsis

The Routledge Handbook of Peripheries in European Studies critically and systematically explores peripheries – in their various notions, definitions, and possibilities – within the European sphere. Variously considered, peripheries reveal common asymmetries and constraints, shed light on combinations and intersections of well-established distinctions and structures, and yet also offer places of resilience, creativity, and innovation to challenge the status quo. As such, peripheries offer revealing perspectives to understand the changing spatial, political, and cultural landscapes of Europe as well as a crucial object of study in their own right, giving weight to persons, processes, and places who seem not to matter, yet demand a reconsideration of the history and politics of Europe. Using case studies and organized around the exploration of four types of peripheries – geographic, structural, socio-political, and epistemic – this multi- and interdisciplinary handbook shows Europe constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed through the very processes of peripheralization and centralization that it explores. The Routledge Handbook of Peripheries in European Studies is a key reference for scholars and students of European studies and culture, European politics as well as the broader social sciences, humanities, and law.