Description: Combining visual culture and postcolonial studies, this reader shows that an appreciation of the role of visual experience is necessary for understanding how colonialism worked and how colonized subjects spoke to imperial rulers.
Review Quotes: "Duke University Press has done social visionaries a real service by printing Martin Jay and Sumathi Ramaswamy's massive collection of insightful articles unveiling how the very way we see the world is daily shaped by 'pictorial practices, image-making technologies, and vision-oriented subjectivities' that have been 'entangled in empire-building, nationalist reactions, post colonial contestations, and transnational globalization.' It is not just economic or military power that shapes the way we see the world, but also photographs, paintings, maps, and the whole range of visual arts and media that are scrutinized in this collection."--Tikkun
"The power of Empires of Vision is in its trans-disciplinary scope, but is also in its ambition. The themes and essays come together and prod the reader to consider the multi-dimensionality of image and empire. It moves beyond mere collections and museums; it moves beyond observed and observer. Empires of Vision examines the nature of empire through oft-forgotten and frequently overlooked historical characters."--Lydia Pyne, Somatosphere "An essential contribution to an ever-expanding field of investigation as much as it is fascinating reading."--Sandra Marques, Social Anthropology "The volume...comprises a sound and valuable anthology of established research on visual culture, Empire, and the postcolony. As most of these contributions have become or are on the way to becoming canonical works, Empires of Vision is exactly that -- 'a reader.' As such, it is a valuable contribution to the field, and a useful text for those teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on visual culture, imperialism, and postcolonialism."--Stephen Sheehi, Canadian Journal of History