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xiii Acknowledgments This book has been at least six years in the making. It has mutated along the way to respond to shifting research and epistemological priorities and to the robust input of many individuals and institutions. I am indebted to them all. Major research for the book was funded by a grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. A yearlong fellowship of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) enabled me to conduct supplementary research and complete the writing. Supplementary funding came from Vanderbilt University’s Scholars Research Grant. He may not realize it, but it was Richard Fardon who got me started on the path of writing this work. On reading an initial exploratory article on the broad topic explored here, he encouraged me to consider expanding it, quipping perceptively that my article was crying out to be a book. His advice did not register immediately, but it lit a fire of curiosity under me a few months later. That began the long process of inquiry and reflection that produced this volume. I thank Fardon for planting the motivational seed in me. As catalytic as that moment was, however, the initial idea of writing a book on a subject as contentious as subcolonialism and its legacies would have atrophied without the support , advice, and input of many: colleagues, friends, and family. Steven Pierce read several little pieces of various aspects, offering advice and nudging me in ever more ambitious directions. His motivational imprint is on the book. John Edward Philips read a smaller written version, in the form of an article, and offered encouragement. I am grateful for the intellectual stimulation that my friend and brother, Farooq Kperogi, consistently offered on a range of topics related to the subject of this book. Over the years, he has become my go-to sounding board, a trusted intellectual confidant with whom I tested ideas and contentions as they occurred to me. I appreciate the constant and, I might add, passionate support of my doctoral dissertation advisers and present mentors, Mamadou Diouf and Frederick Cooper . Both of them helped me through bouts of intellectual anxiety and graciously read portions of this work as recommenders and interested mentors. David Cohen , Elisha Renne, and Kevin Gaines were productively involved in the long process of creation. I am grateful to Ricardo Larémont, who offered encouragement and support. Emmanuel Taqwai was a tireless research assistant who, over several months, helped arrange many interviews and less structured conversations with informants. Professor Okpeh Ochayi Okpeh of Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria, provided me with valued research advice, logistical assistance, and onground support. His assistance helped push the project to the finish line. Professor Yakubu Ochefu, vice chancellor of Kwararafa University, Wukari, Nigeria, was a silent research support; his collection of oral data and transcribed interviews from Idomaland proved invaluable for reconstructing some of the stories I include here. Faculty members of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, were exceptionally helpful, granting me generous access to student dissertations and to their own works. Professor Mailafiya Aruwa Filaba, the head of the department of history in 2008–2009, showed me remarkable scholarly hospitality. Dr. Jonathan Ayuba Mamu gave me a copy of his book, which in turn opened new, promising research vistas to me in the Keffi-Eggon area. When I returned to Keffi in 2012, Mamu facilitated my connection to a network of informants and villages. Also in Keffi, Tanimu Yusuf of the English Department, a friend of mine from our undergraduate days at Bayero University, Kano, provided logistical support and guidance. Moses Anduwa was a resourceful research assistant and informant in the Gudi/Nasarawa Eggon area. Professor Sati Fwatshak of the University of Jos gave me research support in the Jos-Plateau axis. Also in Jos, Abdullahi Samuel Sani and Larab Ayuba helped in chasing down documents. Okoh Emmanuel Adikwu and Albert Teryima Anloho assisted with research in the Benue area. The late Philip Shea, my undergraduate adviser, sensitized me to many of the questions that inform this book. My academic debt to him is immense, and I hope that my trajectory as a historian and the completion of this work have met some of the expectations he had for me. Through several conversations, Murray Last clarified and critiqued some of my initial contentions and assumptions. This book benefited immensely from those productive exchanges. Jean Herskovits engaged me in conversations that sparked new insights and gave me new areas to explore. My colleagues in the history department...

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