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Acknowledgments
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Acknowledgments This book, like most of life's projects, is a coproduction. It is, perhaps, a cultural peculiarity that we claim ownership of what we produce, and that we often privilege single authorship of books, poems, paintings, and songs over collective production. Even at the level of the actual writing, I did not produce this book singlehandedly, but was assisted by a barrage of editors, official and unofficial. Since "acknowledgments" is where we locate [and bracket] the fact of coproduction, however, it is here that I list my accomplices (none ofwhom, ofcourse, bear responsibility for this work-sole responsibility being one of the hazards ofsingle authorship). First and foremost, the data in this book were coproduced by the recipients and workers who so graciously tolerated my various intrusions. They were dedicated and invaluable teachers. Their willingness to trust me, and, on occasion, to discuss activities that could have caused them considerable harm had they been revealed to others in the welfare system , indicates their desire to contribute to efforts to improve their situations . I hope that this study proves useful to them. Robert Lovell of the Michigan Department of Social Services made this research possible by providing me with access to the Kenyon County welfare office. I thank him for his support and for his continuing interest in my work. I hope he finds this book helpful in his efforts to improve the working conditions of Assistance Payments workers in Michigan. In addition to Robert Lovell, I would like to thank the Director of the Kenyon County office for permitting my presence among her staff, a presence that no doubt was disruptive at times. This book represents a substantially revised version ofmy doctoral thesis . My committee members, Ann Millard, Rita Gallin, Frederick Erickson , and Harry Raulet, were key coproducers of the original work. Aside from their various and invaluable expertise, I thank all of them for their patience, perseverance and good humor, all part and parcel of their remarkable skill as teachers. I would especially like to thank Ann Millard for her continuing collegiality, and Frederick Erickson for his willingness x Acknowledgments to continue a mentoring relationship over ten years and across great geographical distance. A number of colleagues who have contributed to the further development of this work, through either comments on drafts or conversations about specific points of interpretation, also deserve credit as coproducers. These include Eufracio Abaya, Lawrence Berg, Lois Bryson , Michael Goldsmith, Linda Gordon, KaiJensen, Tom Ryan, A. R. Vasavi , and Anna Yeatman. lowe very special thanks to William Olszewski Kingfisher for his intellectual and personal friendship. The Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Waikato has provided an inspiring environment for my work, and I would like to thank Marion de Ras, Hilary Lapsley, Radhika Mohanram, Anna Yeatman, Helen Baird, and Lisa Whare for much needed collegiality and enthusiasm. Support staff outside the department, particularly in the IJK Word Processing Centre and the Computer Support Centre, were also invaluable, as were the funds provided by the University ofWaikato Research Committee for word processing. At the University of Pennsylvania Press, Patricia Smith, Alison Anderson , and Julia Sawabini were extremely helpful and encouraging throughout the review and production stages of the book. They make a great team. Three anonymous reviewers for the Press also provided useful comment and criticism. Finally, while I was writing this book, I had the privilege of coproducing a beautiful little boy named Levi. In the two years of his life so far, Levi has given me a great deal of insight into the overriding concern for children shared by the women in this study. I thank him for his loving -and insistent-instruction. ...