Introduction

Introducing the themes of the Handbook, this chapter inquires into the power of peripheral vision as a method for rethinking European studies. Taking inspiration from James Scott's call to attend to the “field of vision” exercised by state (and other) powers, as well as anthropological, historical, and art historical notions of peripheral vision, the analysis urges us to “see like a periphery” – a move that requires creativity, self-reflexivity, and attention to neglected or marginalized sites and sources/archives. This method also encourages lateral or sidestepping strategies that challenge long-standing hierarchies and binaries. At the same time, seeing like a periphery carries the implicit risk of reproducing epistemic boundaries – notably those of sight and sightedness – that reproduce peripherality. Thus, periphery as method ultimately requires a multi-sensorial approach that takes account of how knowledge becomes embodied through a wide range of senses.