Singing for the Dead: The Politics of Indigenous Revival in Mexico

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book is at least in part about the repayment of debts—above all, those the living owe the dead. Although I am fortunate that most of those who helped me the most have not yet “shed their bodies” (a literal translation of a Mazatec expression for dying), I nevertheless incurred enormous debts in writing this book. Beginning with the most recent, I thank Brown University, and especially the Department of Anthropology, for their support as I was revising the book and seeking a publisher. Special thanks go to Jen Ashley, Marcy Brink-­ Danan, Deborah Cohen, Bianca Dahl, Lina Fruzzetti, Matt Gutmann , Susan Ellison, Sherine Hamdy, Marida Hollos, Steve Houston, Karl Jacoby, David Kertzer, Yukiko Koga, Marie Lee, Jessaca Leinaweaver, Cathy Lutz, Kiri Miller, Kathleen Millar, Rhacel Parreñas, Marc Perlman, Pat Rubertone ,Vanessa Ryan, Wendy Schiller, Bill Simmons, Dan Smith, Michael Steinberg , Pat Symonds, JoshuaTucker, and KayWarren forcommenting on drafts and sharing their knowledge of the publication process. I also thank Shay O’Brien, who at each stage of preparing this book proved herself the most competent, intelligent assistant I could have asked for. And I am extremely grateful to Matilde Andrade, Kathy Grimaldi, and Margie Sugrue, who on a daily basis helped make my job and my life easier. I was also very fortunate in having supportive mentors and peers at two other institutions: the University of Chicago, where I spent a marvelous year as a Harper-­Schmidt postdoctoral fellow before coming to Brown and where I also spent considerable time as a doctoral student, and the University of Pennsylvania, where I completed my doctorate. I have no doubt that, whatever its flaws, this book is immeasurably better for the time I spent immersed in the intellectual lives of both universities. Special thanks go to Asif Agha, Deborah Augsburger, Amahl Bishara, Summerson Carr, Jessica Cattelino, Mike Cepek, John and Jean Comaroff, Cherai Cotton, Hilary Dick, Nancy Farriss, Sue Gal, Rob Hamrick, Wendi Haugh, Reha Kadakal, Webb Keane, Paul Kockelman, John Lucy, Tanya Luhrmann, Paul Manning, Alex Mawyer, x Acknowledgments Sevda Numanbayraktoroglu, Brian and Tara Schweger, Stephen Scott, Olga Sezneva, Robin Shoaps, Michael Silverstein, Dan Suslak, Tanya Taylor, Gary Tomlinson, Joshua Tucker, Greg Urban, Bob Vitalis, Hylton White, and Karin Zitzewitz. Some of these were participants in the “Colonial Dialogues” seminar , which has profoundlyaffected my thinking; other people from that group to whom I am indebted include Charles Briggs, Tom Cummins, Bill Hanks, and Joanne Rappaport. I also thank two scholars associated with Penn, Chicago , and “Colonial Dialogues” whose work and personal friendship influenced me more than either will ever know, in part because both passed away before their time: Luis Castro Leiva and Michel-­ Rolph Trouillot. I was fortunate that the research on which this book is based was generously funded. Initial research consisted of thirty-­six months of field research conducted in Oaxaca, Mexico. I thank the organizations that made this research possible financially: the Social Science Research Council; the U.S. Department of Education, which awarded me a Fulbright-­ Hays fellowship; the Wenner Gren Foundation; the University of Pennsylvania, which awarded me summer and year-­ long fieldwork grants and fellowship support for the entirety of my doctorate; and the Ford Foundation. Follow-­ up research was funded bya Fulbright Senior Scholar Research grant and a Salomon Research Grant from Brown University. My experience with Duke University Press and its staff has been consistently delightful. I am especially grateful to have had such a wonderful pair of editors, Valerie Millholland and Gisela Fosado. I am also grateful to Lynn Stephen and Yanna Yannakakis, who were anonymous reviewers until after the review process ran its course. Their extensive, generous, detailed comments on the book have made it immeasurably better. I am also profoundly indebted to the many people in Mexico who helped make this book a reality. InYalálag, I thank Joel Aquino, the extended Aquino family, the late Mario Molina Cruz, and members of Uken KeUken. I thank in particular Juana Vazquez and the entire Vazquez family, who took me in with such hospitality when I first decided to work in Oaxaca and have treated me with love ever since. In the Sierra Mazateca, I thank Edward Abse, who first directed me to Florencio Carrera; Maestro Florencio, whodirected me to Nda Xo; and various other people from the Mazatec region at large who helped me along the way, including Juan Garcia Carrera, Juan Casimiro Nava, and Juan Gregorio Regino. In Nda Xo, I thank the authorities for...