Chang and Eng Reconnected: The Original Siamese Twins in American Culture

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Chang and Eng Reconnected began as a dissertation in the american Culture program at the university of michigan. the attentive and sustained guidance provided by my committee members—martin pernick, tobin siebers, sidonie smith, and patricia yaeger—helped shape this project from its earliest stages. although stephen sumida left the university before i was at the dissertation stage, his influence is clearly visible in these pages. the following sources of financial support allowed me to finish my degree in a timely manner: a rackham merit Fellowship and a dean’s Candidacy Fellowship, both from the university of michigan, and an external fellowship from the Consortium for Faculty diversity funded by the andrew W. mellon Foundation at macalester College. Offsetting the cost of travel to archives were the following funding sources: a professional development grant from agnes scott College, the archie K. davis Grant from the north Caroliniana society, and the state university of new york at Buffalo (university at Buffalo) Faculty start-up program. a humanities institute faculty research fellowship and a junior sabbatical, both completed in connection with the university at Buffalo, provided teaching releases during which the manuscript for Chang and Eng Reconnected was revised. the Julian park Fund offset the cost of permissions and reproduction of images for the book. this work grew from conversations with audiences at the modern language association, the Future of minority studies research project, the Berkshire Conference on the history of Women, the university of minnesota disabled student Cultural Center, the university at Buffalo new Faculty seminar series, the university at Buffalo humanities institute Fellows lecture series, and symposia at the university of California, Berkeley, and pomona College in Claremont , California. For the opportunity to present at these events, i thank rachel lee, ernesto martinez, emily smith Beitiks, Carrie Bramen, tim dean, shannon Jackson, susan schweik, leslie Bow, Jenell Johnson, ellen samuels, and xii Acknowledgments Kyla tompkins. alice dreger introduced me to the Bunker family. invitations to speak at reunions for the descendants of Chang and eng generated insightful feedback from my toughest audience yet. special thanks go to tanya Jones and the surry arts Council for travel funding. the following colleagues read and commented on various drafts of the manuscript either in whole or part: Charlotte artese, Carrie Bramen, yoonmee Chang, Christian Flaugh, eunjung Kim, robin li, tamiko nimura, Jun Okada, ellen samuels, Bill solomon, and ramón soto-Crespo. the final version of the book is stronger because of their advice. along the way, interchanges with the following people further contributed to the development of this work: leslie Bow, russ Castronovo, sally Chivers, James Cook, Jessica Cooley, Cindy Current , amber dermont, martha Fineman, ann Fox, rosemarie Garland-thomson , sander Gilman, Jennifer James, Bruce henderson, lynn hudson, paul lai, neil lerner, nhi lieu, anita mannur, nicole markotić, robert mcruer, Julie minich, scott morgensen, susan moynihan, denise nepveux, Wilas nirunsuksiri, margaret price, Benjamin reiss, Jane rhoads, Carrie sandahl, Cathy schlund-vials, min song, John Kuo Wei tchen, and Chris vials. parts of Chang and Eng Reconnected were completed at self-styled writing boot camps with lisa hall. the university at Buffalo has been a great place to have a career. sincere thanks are in order to my department chair, Keith Griffler, whose tireless leadership is extraordinary. i am lucky to be part of a collective of junior faculty whose weekly check-ins keep me on track. Carole emberton, theresa mcCarthy , theresa runstedtler, and laKisha simmons make me account for my time but also tell me to relax when i need to. For advice on future research, i acknowledge susan Cahn, tim dean, david Gerber, Bruce Jackson, arabella lyon, and Cristanne miller. my editor, Janet Francendese, made the entire process of putting my work into print as smooth as possible. she along with her assistant amanda steele and the rest of her staff at temple university press are amazing. i am indebted to two readers whose careful and detailed review of the manuscript pushed it further. parts of the introduction and an earlier version of Chapter 4 were published as “the siamese twins in late-nineteenth-Century narratives of Conflict and reconciliation,” American Literature 80, no. 1 (2008): 29–55. i thank duke university press for permission to reprint the article. staff at the following collections were helpful with navigating materials: the national library of medicine, the north Carolina state archives, the mütter museum of the College of physicians of philadelphia, and the southern historical Collection at the university of north...