-
Acknowledgments
- University of Minnesota Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
177 a C K n o w l e D G m e n T S I would first like to thank my dissertation committee, Richard Taub, William Mazzarella, Terry Clark, Diane Davis, and especially my dissertation chair and mentor, Saskia Sassen, who excitedly shouted “Bombay!” when I told her I was thinking of doing this research in India. Their feedback and support on this project and throughout graduate school were invaluable . A special thank-you goes to Diane Davis, who planted the seeds for this project (although neither of us knew it then) at the New School and has nurtured it all along the way. Deep gratitude goes to Philip Engblom, who gave me the language and the insights into Mumbai and Maharashtra that I needed to conduct the research. My debts in Mumbai, while ultimately innumerable, include those who introduced me to their city, patiently answered my questions, and provided me with friendship. When I arrived in Mumbai, a vibrant conversation on the city was under way, and I was welcomed by the scholars, activists, and public intellectuals vigorously debating issues of access, land use, environmental degradation, historic preservation, and representation in its various forms. Chief among them was Sharit Bhowmik, who sent me on my first trip to Dharavi in the summer of 2004 and then helped me build my connections there when I returned. Other scholars generous with their time and insights include Marina Pinto, Sujata Patel, Swapna BanerjeeGuha , R. N. Sharma, Sudha Mohan, Dilip Nachane,Abhay Pethe, Sandeep Pendse,Anirudh Paul, and Varsha Ayyar. Deep appreciation goes to Navtej Nainan, whose understandings and critiques continually fed me with new ideas to explore.The many activists and public intellectuals whose insights shaped my thoughts on these issues include the folks at PUKAR, including Arjun Appadurai and the late Carol Breckenridge, Rahul Srivastiva, 178 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Anita Patil-Deshmukh, Aditya Pant, and Shilpa Phadke. They also include Darryl D’Monte, Kalpana Sharma, Shweta Damble, Arvind Adarkar, V. K. Phatak, Shirish Patel, and the committed folks at SPARC, including Sheela Patel, Sundar Burra, Aditi Thorat, and Devika Mahadevan. The many people who made my stay in Mumbai comfortable and fun include Milan Shinde, Bhavesh Shah, Pratap and Jaya Talreja, Devika Mahadevan and Kapil Gupta, Matt Daniels, and the Bombay Expats. Deep gratitude goes to Subramani Shankar and the entire Shankar family for their help, kindness, and a near constant supply of dosas. Chicago dissertations are made in interdisciplinary workshops, and mine was a product of the Globalization Workshop and the Urban Workshop , as well as Theory and Practice in South Asia (TAPSA). Active participants who read and commented on unformed ideas and chapter drafts include Andy Abbott, Xuefei Ren, Rachel Harvey, Kathleen Fernicola, Eric Boria, Michal Pagis, Jennifer Buntin, Rachel Rinaldo, Robert Wyrod, Beth Tipton, Andrew Papachristos, Jolyon Ticer-Wurr, Beatrice Jauregui, Boria Majumdar, and Spencer Leonard. A very special thank you to the DSSers (Kathleen Fernicola, Rachel Harvey, Jennifer Buntin, Melissa Howe, and Jennifer Hanis-Martin) for the deadlines, invaluable feedback, friendship, and my sanity. And thank-you to John MacAloon and my fellow MAPSS preceptors, especially my officemate and writing partner, Avi Sharma, for providing me the institutional home, office space, pub nights, and Jimmy’s outings that I needed to finish the dissertation. Northeastern University proved the perfect place to transform the dissertation into the book, and I thank my colleagues and students here for the intellectual stimulation and help in this endeavor. Thank you especially to Steve Vallas for his fearless leadership and to Barry Bluestone and the Dukakis Center as well as to the Brudnick Center for research assistance. My supportive colleagues, including Linda Blum, Shelley Kimelberg, Alisa Lincoln, Jeff Juris, Chris Chambers, Silvia Dominguez, Doreen Lee, Nina Sylvanus, Mindelyn Bufford, and Tom Vicino, help make Northeastern a comfortable and stimulating home. My students and research assistants whose help is reflected here include Dechen Sherpa, Kate Acosta, Priya Murali, Autumn Mathias, and Rachael Gorab. Countless others helped shape the ideas presented in this book with their inspiring ideas and critical feedback at conferences and less formal venues. They include Jonathan Anjaria, Navtej Nainan, Tarini Bedi, Solly Benjamin, Gavin Shatkin, Anush Kapadia, Sapana Doshi, Patrick Heller, Neil Brenner, Rahul Mehotra, Marygold Walsh-Dilley, Renu Desai, Romola Sanyal, Ryan Centner, Tara van Dijk, Nausheen Anwar, Gautam [44.200.230.43] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:10 GMT) 179 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Bhan, Xingming Chen, Smitha Radhakrishnan, Sam Cohn, Len Albright, Sheetal Chhabria, Mike Levien, Eduardo Moncada, Ashu...