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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the past years, I have noticed that my intellectual debts have grown far and wide. I was lucky enough to have James Lockhart introduce me to his incredible passion for the study of Nahuatl. Once I began research for this book, a series of individuals encouraged me with their suggestions, often providing me with feedback at my talks and reading and critiquing my writing. In particular I want to single out Jocelyn Olcott, who not only has read the entire manuscript, but also has read so many drafts and listened to so many talks that she is undoubtedly tired of hearing about Nahuas having sex. Others who have provided me with extensive feedback on my work have included Susan Schroeder, Matthew Restall, James N. Green, Heidi Tinsman, Neil Whitehead, Zeb Tortorici, Kathryn Burns, Kimberly Gauderman, Caterina Pizzigoni, John Chuchiak, Kevin Terraciano, Lisa Sousa, William Reddy, Micol Seigel, Richard T. Rodríguez, Anna Krylova, Kathleen DuVal, Dirk Bonker, Moshe Sluhovsky, John D. French, Thomas Robisheaux, Lynda Coon, Lisa Lindsay, Bruce Kapferer, Kevin Ohi, Mary Kay Vaughan, Anne Phillips, Sean Parrish, Benjamin Reed, Jonathan Bird, Enrique Ochoa, John Martin, Christopher Endy, Cheryl Koos, Cecelia Klein, Ulrike Strasse, Anjali Arondekar, Eve Oishi, David Serlin , Michelle Hamilton, and Cynthia Brantley. My first year at Duke I also was greatly encouraged by the weekly meetings of the xiv ≤ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS beer and theory group: Tina Campt, Kevin Haynes, Tyler Curtain, Clare Hemmings, Richard Langston, and Anne-Maria Makhulu. I would like to acknowledge the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Humanities Center for providing me with a yearlong fellowship to begin the writing process. And I thank the University of California Humanities Research Institute for its support. Both California State University , Los Angeles and Duke University have graciously provided me with research and writing grants. My editor at Duke University Press, Valerie Millholland, has strongly encouraged me, even when I have been down about the writing process. I also thank all the others at the press, particularly Miriam Angress. The anonymous reviewers did an excellent job critically engaging my manuscript, and the copy editor was magnanimous in helping me produce the final product. Often one closes acknowledgments by referencing those closest to them, but I owe far too many debts to the people closest to me. I have found that my primary intellectual motivation comes not from the traditional confines of the academy, but rather from those who have taught me to appreciate the knowledge that comes from challenging traditional boundaries. My close friends from act up, many of them, including Rick, long since dead, made me think about sexuality and politics in new ways. And the pansexual bdsm communities from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Durham have inspired me to think beyond the confines of the human and the sexual. Most recently the mob and the tribe have stimulated me. Unfortunately, so much hate still exists in our society that I cannot name most of these people, but they know who they are, and they know that we will conquer the haters. When one seeks a world that challenges boundaries, one begins to think, to want, to know, and to grow a new movement for change. Many years ago I began a journey. Many people have traveled that journey with me. We have fought against a world that cannot accept the radical alterations that our mutual existences demand, a world that forces us to lie about our lives, a world populated by people who demand the extermination of our differences. Struggling with this hostility, we fight to create a new reality. ...

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