edges of empire focuses on the intersection between modernization, modernism, and orientalism. it is a timely reassessment of the history and legacy of orientalist art and visual culture. the essays in this volume explore the connections and cross-fertilizations that occur across cultural boundaries via the analysis of ottoman and north african art practices, as well as the visual culture of european orientalism. contested identities and new definitions of self are highlighted in relation to topics as diverse as nineteenth-century monuments to empire, cultural cross-dressing, performance and display at the international exhibitions, and contemporary museological practice. this is a groundbreaking anthology that will be of great interest to scholars and students of art history, architecture, museum studies, and cultural and postcolonial studies.