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Acknowledgments Several organizations provided generous financial and administrative support for my ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in India, Iran, and Syria. My field research was funded by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship and by the American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS). Additional research support was provided by a Center for American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) Multi-Country Research Fellowship . At CAORC, Mary Ellen Lane was extremely helpful in facilitating my research, and at AIIrS, I thank Erica Ehrenberg and James Clark. I am grateful to the government of India for granting me a research visa and to Girish Kaul and S. K. Bharati at the United States–India Educational Foundation and Purnima Mehta, director general of New Delhi’s American Institute of Indian Studies for their assistance. A Doctoral Research Travel Grant from the Center for Global Initiatives (formerly the University Center for International Studies) at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill enabled me to travel to Hyderabad, India, in August 2003 to conduct preliminary dissertation research and to establish contacts in the Shiʿi community. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was an ideal environment in which to pursue my fascination with Shiʿi devotional literature and ritual. Beyond religious studies, my research interests led me in many directions— women’s and gender studies, Persian and Urdu language and literature, and ethnography—all of which I was able to pursue and the multidisciplinary imprint of which is evident in this book. UNC’s Department of Religious Studies generously supported my training and research, both financiallyand intellectually. UNC’s Center for Global Studies and the North Carolina Consortium for South Asia Studies provided generous financial support, and I benefited from opportunities to present my research. I also thank the Graduate School for its generous support in the form of a Royster Society of Fellows John Motley Morehead Dissertation Year Fellowship. At the Universityof North Carolina Press, I am especially grateful to Elaine Maisner for her steadfast support of this book. Elaine has made the editorial process a pleasure, and I have learned much from her. I also thank the editorial staff who have been instrumental in the production of this book: Tema Larter, Paul Betz, Vicky Wells, and Dino Battista. I thank Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence for their support and for their acceptance of this book xii | ACKNOWLEDGMENTS as part of the Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks series. The careful reading and insightful critique provided by two anonymous readers was extremely helpful and appreciated. I also thank Lena Rubisova for her work with the illustrations. In Hyderabad, I received a warm welcome from the Shiʿi community, whose generosity of spirit and time and abundant kindness are truly appreciated . The staff at the Henry Martyn Institute facilitated many aspects of this project, for which I am grateful. I especially thank Andreas D’Souza, the institute’s former director. I am indebted to the Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute, the Salar Jung Museum Archives, the Jaʿfari Library, the Osmania University Library, and the State Central Library (formerly the Asafiyya Library). Many people in Hyderabad were extremely generous with their time and support of this project. Dr. Sadiq Naqvi deserves special thanks for serving as the master of my introduction into the Shiʿi community in Hyderabad. Dr. Naqvi was always willing to sit down with me and answer my questions about the history of Hyderabad and about Shiʿi devotional literature and practice. Dr. Riaz Fatima, an expert on Urdu literature , particularly marṡiya, opened her home and family to me. The wedding of her son ʿAbbas figures prominently in this book. I am indebted to Dr. M. M.Taqui Khan and his family for introducing me to the mehndī kī majlis in Hyderabad. The members of the Khan family are also discussed extensively in this book, and I am grateful for their generosityof spirit. Despite her busy schedule during Muharram, Dr. Zakia Sultana, one of Hyderabad’s most prominent women majlis orators (ẕākirah), always kept me informed of each day’s many mourning assemblies. Zakia introduced me to many members of Hyderabad’s Shiʿi community, and her patience in explaining the structure and themes of the majlis is appreciated. I am grateful to many others, including Mir Shajʿat ʿAli, Alok Bhalla, Zia Shakeb, Muhammad Suleiman Siddiqui, R. Thirumala Rao, Shemeem ʿAskari, Maulana Reza Agha, Sabiha Asghar, Nisar, Salahuddin, Tajuddin, Husain Mir, Hasan ʿAbedi, Naqi ʿAbedi, Salim Rizvi...

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