From “places that don’t matter” to peripheralization: A geographical approach to understanding the spatialities of the far right

Based on qualitative research in the district of Frankfurt-Riederwald, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been successful in recent years, this paper confronts the mostly quantitatively oriented studies on the spatialities of the far right. For this purpose, peripheralization is introduced as a concept that leads beyond the dominant notion of left-behind places. The concept of peripheralization allows for a relational integration of the economic, individual and emotional dimensions of social reality, rather than understanding them as separate or even competing aspects, and thus provides an understanding of complex, spatialized political formations. Moreover, the concept helps to understand that both the periphery and the center are products of power relations and that both are equally important for the articulation of far-right politics.