Uncertain Territories

Book excerpt: Tracing and theorizing the concept of boundaries through literary works, visual objects and cultural phenomena, this book argues against the reification of boundaries as fixed and empty non-spaces that divide the world. The contributors elaborate on Boer's theme of boundaries as spaces where opposition yields to negotiation. Their analyses span diverse artefacts and media, ranging from literature to photography, to art installation and presentation, film and song. Fanning out from Boer's central focus - Orientalism - to other places of contestation, boundaries are described to mediate the relationship between self and other.