Rhetoric of a Global Epidemic: Transcultural Communication about SARS

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments A book is never written alone. I am fortunate to have mentors all along the way when working on this book. I thank first and foremost Patricia Sullivan for guiding me to think seriously about research methodologies and for inspiring me to undertake challenging work. Michael Salvo, Thomas Rickert, and David Blakesley helped me tremendously in the development of this project. In addition, Steven Katz and Blake Scott read my manuscript and offered extremely insightful criticisms for the book. My dear friends Jingfang Ren, Amy Ferdinandt Stolley, Tarez Samra Graban, Nicole Livengood, and Xiaoye You helped me to sharpen my arguments in initial drafts by raising difficult questions. I also benefited greatly from scholarly conversations with my colleagues at Clemson University. A number of colleagues read parts of the manuscript: Lee Morrissey, Michelle Martin, Joe Sample, Teddi Fishman, Cameron Bushnell, Brian McGrath, Kimberly Manganelli, and Shannon Walter, among others. My research assistants Ali Ferguson, Carly Finseth, Elizabeth Pitts, and Beth Wilkerson copyedited the manuscript at different stages. Part of the research for this book has been generously supported by a yearlong Purdue Research Fund in 2006–7 and a summer fellowship and a travel grant from Clemson University in 2008. I especially thank Karl Kageff, editor-in-chief, Southern Illinois University Press, for his patient guidance, good humor, and encouragement. My reviewers, one of whom was Blake Scott, offered invaluable feedback. Blake’s work on both HIV testing and transnational pharmaceutical responses to bioterrorism inspired my work throughout the revisions. Finally, I thank my family members for their boundless love. My parents, Peican Ding and Jinlan Xiao, collected numerous materials in China about SARS for me. My in-laws, Hongxiao Zhang and Shennian Jiang, supported my work with encouragement and confidence. My husband, Xun Zhang, viii Acknowledgments always cheers me up with his humor and support. My daughter, Vivian, patiently waits for mommy to “return from work at home” through my long writing hours before lighting up my days with her smiles and delightful talk. Portions of this book were previously published. I am grateful to the following publisher and journals for allowing me to reprint them here: Taylor & Francis Ltd., http://www.informaworld.com, “Rhetorics of Alternative Media in an Emerging Epidemic: SARS, Censorship, and Participatory Risk Communication ,” Technical Communication Quarterly 18.4 (2009): 327–50; “New Directions in Intercultural Professional Communication,” Technical Communication Quarterly 22.1 (2013): 1–9; and “Transcultural Risk Communication and Viral Discourses: Grassroots Movements to Manage Global Risks of H1N1 Flu Pandemic,” Technical Communication Quarterly 22.2 (2013): 126–49. Rhetoric of a Global Epidemic ...