Not many people have the opportunity of writing a second “first book.” My move to the USA has afforded me this unusual privilege and pleasure by enabling me to embark on a series of inquiries into what is for me an entirely new field. The list of institutions and individuals who have supported and guided me through this unfamiliar field is long, and my debt to them impossible to acknowledge adequately.

Among institutions, foremost is Emory University, which has provided me a home and an extraordinarily supportive and collegial intellectual environment for the last six years. I owe special thanks to Earl Lewis, provost and professor of history; to Bobby Paul and Cris Levenduski, respectively dean and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences until 2011; the current deans of the College, Robin Forman and Michael Elliott; and Lisa Tedesco, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, for their unfailing support and their personal interest in my work. I also thank the Department of History (my primary home on campus), the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, and the erstwhile Institute of Critical International Studies and its energetic director, Bruce Knauft, for their continuous generosity.