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Acknowledgments Viewed in one way, persons are bundles of debts and credits—who we are is a function of a complex assemblage of affordances offered to us by those who hold us in their various ways and who we, if we are fortunate, are able to hold for a time ourselves. the occasion of completing a book offers the opportunity to look at oneself according to this perspective. seeing myself in this way, it is clear that the debts that i myself have incurred in the process of this endeavor are many. it is my hope, perhaps an overly ambitious one, that the publication of that for which i have indebted myself will repay in some small way those to whom i owe, with joy, so many thanks. the material that went into this book has profited enormously from conversations , discussions, and exchanges with a great many persons. the entire manuscript , though in some cases a much earlier version, benefited from careful readings by Amy Allen, Barry Allen, david Couzens hoy, ladelle mcWhorter, and anonymous press reviewers. Amy Allen and david hoy were especially involved in many stages of the development of this book—i could not find a way to thank you both enough for your conversation, your stimulation, and your faith in this project. it helps immeasurably much to be able to rely on the credits extended by those to whose work one is directed. that said, the argumentation and interpretation herein are addressed to many others as well. it is my fortune to be able to acknowledge many of those to whom this work is addressed for having read portions of the manuscript. Paul rabinow has been particularly generous and characteristically provocative at almost every step—i have benefited immeasurably from both. others who have been generous in discussing portions of the material herein deserve many thanks: Jim Clif- x Acknowledgments ford, Arnold davidson, Penelope deutscher, Christoph durt, Jeff edmonds, dan Guevara, ian hacking, lynn huffer, Carly lane, Jeremy livingston, tomas matza, edward mcGushin, Paul Patton, Paul roth, Jana sawicki, richard shusterman, hans sluga, Brad stone, John stuhr, ronald sundstrom, Joseph tanke, dianna taylor, Kevin thompson, Zach VanderVeen, Christopher Voparil, and rocío Zambrana . my thanks to you all, and most especially for the maintenance of your disagreements . this book has been traveling along the West Coast with me for a few years now. Gratitude is therefore due to a not-small and still-growing list of colleagues, interlocutors, and philosophical friends in California and oregon. While all of those named above have contributed directly to this work in some form, many others were participant with me in the conversations that made this manuscript the book that it now is. this book began as part of my postdoctoral project at the University of California at santa Cruz. i thank the social sciences and humanities research Council of Canada for providing the invaluable opportunity of that uninterrupted research time. i thank david Couzens hoy for mentorship during my three years at UCsC. i also thank Paul roth and Jocelyn hoy for support in a variety of ways, both intellectual and practical, during my tenure at UCsC. Various other philosophical and institutional supports made this time both productive and enjoyable: thanks are due to Jim Clifford, Christoph durt, Carla Freccero, dan Guevara, ian hacking , Jake metcalf, and Abe stone. i would be remiss to leave unacknowledged the students from my spring 2009 senior seminar on Foucault (in particular i thank Jesse Grove and Jimmy hardwick); i cannot imagine a more generative seminar than this one, which came at just the right time in the final stages of revision of the first complete draft of this manuscript. lastly, my most generative venue at UCsC was the “Foucault Across the disciplines” reading group; among my steadiest collaborators there were noriko Aso, tomas matza, and daniel narey. during the tenure of my post-doc in santa Cruz, i lived up the coast a little stretch in that romantic neverland called san Francisco. this afforded me ample time over at the University of California at Berkeley, where this book has benefited enormously from a great many conversations and philosophical friendships. i have already mentioned Paul rabinow, whose example and insight continue to afford much instruction. i would also like to thank other members of the “Anthropology of the Contemporary research Collaboratory” from whom i have learned immeasurably much about Foucault, social science, anthropology, the life sciences, emerging technologies, and much more: Gaymon Bennett...

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