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Acknowledgments Suppose a book appears, as this one does, under the name of a single author. This curious selective recognition of one person who happened to put together a number of ideas and write them down in a certain way obscures the efforts and contributions of many others. It conjures images of the lone scholar diligentlyproducing "awork." But, while many aspects of the production of a book are quite solitary, it is fundamentally a social operation, actively involving many people in many processes: providing information, generating and recombining ideas, stimulating thinking, offering critiques, managing the logistics, and providing the degree of exemption from other social obligations that the one who writes requires. My greatest debt of gratitude is to my husband, Mai O'Connor. My intellectual companion as well as my sweetheart and my friend, he has had an incalculable and sustaining role in this enterprise. He has listened and discussed endlessly, contributing many insights and refinements . An amazing organizer, he often jotted notes as I poured forth confusion; these he crystallizedquickly into cogent outlines that furnished me the framework of my arguments and enabled me to write through them. He claims he only gave back what he heard, but what he heard was always honed by his keen analyticalabilitieson its way to the note page. He has shown amazing grace and patience throughout this project, and often had more fortitude than I. During the three-month "home stretch," while I did nothing but go to work and write, Mai did literally everything else it takes to run a house and keep a life together. I am dearly beholden to him for all of his love, participation, support, and unstinting generosity. My intellectual debt to Dave Hufford is apparent throughout the book. For years I have benefited from his pioneering approach to this subject matter, his rigorous logic, his careful concern with definition, his astute and constructive criticism,and his warmly collaborative na- xll Acknowledgments ture. He has shared many of his own papers and manuscripts with me in their formative stages, and has helped me to develop my arguments both by suggestion and by his own extraordinary example. He has been a valued teacher, colleague, and friend who has offered many sound and careful critiquesand plenty of moral support. After many years of our ongoing discussion I cannot always separate what I take to be my thoughts from the foundation he has laid and the insights he has inspired. More often than I am able to knowit and give it, credit for an idea probably ought to go to Dave. Much of the content of this work was furnished by my informants and field consultants over the years. Many people have participated, often giving hospitalityas well as insightsand information. They have been willing to entrust to me their privacy, their experiences ofsickness and health, and the explication of some of their most cherished beliefs. Their collective personal knowledge and experience became my data. For this project I am especially indebted to the members of the Hmong and PWA communities of Philadelphia for their immeasurable help. Ironically, it is quite possible that a number of the people who contributed so much of its substance may never see this book. In several instances we met and parted as strangers, with warm and animated hours of conversation in between. Some will have no appetite for an academic description of much that they already know. Some do not read English.Some are no longer living.I hope that I have represented them all well and fairly, for I am to a certain extent their scribe. Colleagues too have been generous with their time and expertise. Jonathan Lax and Dave Hufford have been true mentors, for whom I am most appreciative. Thanks to Ray Birdwhistell, Bruce Thowpaou Bliatout, Janet Fleetwood, Randi Freedman, Diane Goldstein, Dave Hufford, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Jonathan Lax, June Lowenberg, Joan Lynaugh, Mai O'Connor, Sally Peterson, Anne Scott, Patricia Smith, Xoua Thao, and Barre Toelken for having read (and sometimes reread ) earlier drafts of various chapters or sections and offered their expert advice and critiques.They have saved me from some egregious errors, but are certainly in nowise responsible for any that remain. Jonathan Lax and Kiyoshi Kuromiya gave expert advice and helped to guide portions of my fieldwork. Christian Fuersich raised the term "research assistant" to new heights of meaning in his thoroughness, insight, persistence, and personal involvement with the outcome; safe to say the manuscript would not have met...

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