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This book has been made possible by the help of numerous people. Without the enthusiastic participation of the hundreds of interviewees who participated in the group discussions about the photographs, completing this book would have been inconceivable. Without their agreeing to share with me their narratives about themselves, none of this endeavor would have been possible. I would also like to thank the agencies that supported, in different capacities, my research: the Social Science Research Council, the Population Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin, the Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Inter American and Border Studies of the University of Texas at El Paso, the University Research Institute and the Liberal Arts Faculty Development Grant of the University of Texas at El Paso, the Sociology and Anthropology department of the University of Texas at El Paso, the Division of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas –San Antonio, the Seminario de Estudios de la Cultura in Mexico City, the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas–San Antonio, the Faculty Research Award of the University of Texas at San Antonio, and especially El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Several persons have played particularly important roles while this book was being written. Very special thanks go to Angela Escajeda and Pablo Luna for their outstanding assistance during the initial fieldwork and, after that, for their critical reading of my drafts, and to Sherry Jewel for her incredible help with the translation of most of the interviews from Spanish to English. Also important were other students who kindly helped me with other translations: Bibiano Maldonado, Eduardo Acosta, Karina Gerdau-Radonic, Damariz Macías, Adrianna Sáenz, Ivan Cervantes, Mark Alvarado, and James Steger. Debbie Nathan, as usual, performed miracles with my English, but this time she was helped by Kristina Larner and James Steger. My advisers in Austin (Bryan Roberts, Henry Selby, and Harley Browning) also deserve a very special acknowledgment, because they also were kind enough to go through the different versions of this book and always provide very good advice. Eduardo Barrera and John Peterson advanced very important points that, I am sure, improved very much the final product of my research. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x The book was also improved by my participation in a two-year seminar about the border organized by Víctor Zúñiga whose participants were Norma Alarcón, Jorge Arditti, Victoria Novelo, Laura Velasco, Olivia Ruiz, and Luis García. My thanks to all of them for their comments and criticisms. Other people have read and criticized different chapters of this book: Howard Campbell, John Peterson, Cheryl Howard, Debbie Nathan , George Yúdice, Juan Flores, Jean Franco, Arlene Dávila, Bryan Roberts, Tim Dunn, David Spener, Melissa Wright, Sarah Hill, Vicky Meyer, Eddie Telles, Leslie Salzinger, Pablo Semán, Alejandro Grimson , Julia Chindemi, José García, Elea Aguirre, Patricia Fernández de Castro, Eduardo Archetti, Samuel Schmidt, Eduardo Barrera, and Elizabeth Jelín. All of them made insightful comments that I really appreciate. The students and participants of two seminars I taught at Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez in October 2002 were particularly insightful in criticizing the initial manuscript of this book. Theresa May, assistant director and editor-in-chief at the University of Texas Press, was very helpful in all the processes that were necessary to the completion of this book. I want to thank as well those people who, with their love, friendship, and support, made this book possible. First, I must mention my children , Juanchi, Paloma, and Malena. Second, my friends Tony and Alexandra Alfau, Oscar Riccardi, Nora Agostini, Enrique Figueroa, Mónica Maselli, Fernando Nachón, Lucas Rubinich, Pablo Semán, Luis Tulli, Edgardo Díaz, Rosa Cabezas-Gil, Leslie Salzinger, Juan Silva, María Cristina Bacchetta, Ramón Pelinski, Héctor Ramírez, Alain and Daglind Sonolet, and Fanny and Norberto Szmidt. The kindness, encouragement , help, and, above all, resilience of my wife, Julia Chindemi, were also invaluable in my life and to finishing this book. ...

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