Sujani K. Reddy - Nursing and Empire

This book has been such a long journey, and along the way, I have benefited from the invaluable assistance, unconditional support, and sustaining inspiration of too many people to mention in one note. Forgive me for my oversights. I must begin by giving thanks to all of the nurses who shared their stories with me. I am especially grateful to Aleyamma George, Aleyamma Eapen, and Satwant Malhotra, who led me to more contacts and information that was essential. And truly, this project would not be the same without the friendship and guidance of Vasantha Daniel, whose influence is woven throughout the book in ways both named and unnamed.

I am thankful for the staff at the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Kerala State Archives, the Schleisinger Library at Radcliffe, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York Public Library, Columbia University libraries, the National Library of Medicine, the Bobst Library at NYU, the Yale Divinity School Library, and the Frost Library at Amherst College.

At UNC Press, I have had the great fortune to work with Mark Simpson-Vos, an editor whose sharp questions, generous replies, and genuinely collaborative spirit have made writing this book an exciting endeavor. I am also thankful for the assistance of Lucas Church. I was buoyed by the enthusiasm and insight of Jennifer Guglielmo and Sharmila Rudrappa. Thank you for your careful and critical readings.

Portions of this work have appeared previously in The Sun Never Sets: South Asian Migrants in an Age of U.S. Power and are reprinted here with permission from NYU Press.

This project had its beginnings at New York University, where I had the honor of working with a group of academic mentors who continue to inspire me professionally, politically, and personally. Truly, I know I would not have made it this far without the patient and persistent support of Andrew Ross. He is an advisor extraordinaire. I am also forever thankful to Lisa Duggan, who saw me through from beginning to end. I remain deeply indebted to Robin D. G. Kelley, Vijay Prashad, Manu Goswami, Gary Okihiro, Nikhil Pal Singh, and Walter Johnson. I was fortunate to have the support of Alyssa Burke and Madala Hilaire; to have the chance to work with Philip Brian Harper, Juan Flores, Gayatri Gopinath, Arlene Davila, and Jack Tchen; and to learn from and alongside Alyosha Goldstein, Mariel Rose, Richard Kim, Jerry Philogene, Adria Imada, Eric Tang, Kimani Paul-Emil, Miabi Chatterji, Samera Esmeir, and Carlos Decena.

I completed this book while working as a Five College Assistant Professor at Amherst College. I am grateful to my colleagues and coworkers in the American Studies Department as well as at Five Colleges, Inc., the Five College Asian/Pacific/American Studies Certificate Program, and the Five College Inter-Asia working group. My time here has been enriched by the support of Floyd Cheung, Kim Chang, Lili Kim, Donald Tomascovic-Devey, Jeffrey Ferguson, Joshua Roth, Ronald Lembo, Margaret Cerrullo, Christopher Dole, Amrita Basu, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Frank Couvares, Gregory Call, Karen Graves, and Lisa Ballou. It has been exciting also to find friendship and intellectual camaraderie with Asha Nadkarni, Iyko Day, David Hernandez, Wilson Valentin-Escobar, Dayo Gore, Falguni Sheth, Krupa Shandilya, Karen Cardozo, and Banu Subramaniam (who I owe a special thanks to for the last-minute Tamil translation). Finally, as I send this to press, I am also preparing to begin work in the American Studies department at SUNY, the College at Old Westbury. To my new colleagues, I thank you for new opportunities.

Teaching is not just part of my job; it is a true laboratory for learning. To the students Ive had the honor of working with: thank you for helping me sort out ideas and for being the ones who most consistently remind me of why and how this work matters.

My scholarship is also, undeniably, influenced by my political commitments. Here I have had the honor of working with, and learning from, Chandana Mathur, Andrew Hsiao, Aniruddha Das, Biju Mathew, Anannya Bhattacharjee, Mir Ali Raza, the Asia Pacific Forum radio collective, the SAMAR magazine collective, the India Resource Center, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Youth Solidarity Summer, the Fortune Societys Education Program (John Gordon, Eric Appleton, John Kefalas, and Miriam Garcia), Just Communities, and Justice for Charles. I thank them all for teaching me how to sustain the relationship between thought and action.

In addition to the above, over the years, I have been blessed by friends who have sustained me: Lisa Armstrong, Diana Coryat, Jennifer Guglielmo, Lois Ahrens, Vivek Bald, Manu Vimalassery, Julie Sze, Christina Handhardt, Ifenoa Fulani, Cleo Godsey, Yuko Miki, Jonathan Bogarin, Noah Fischer, Dagan Bayliss, Melissa Myambo, Diana Pei Wu, Aleyamma Mathew, Anandaroop Roy, Pushkala Prasad, Naeem Mohaiemen, Revan Schendler, Elizabeth Kolsky, Beau Shaw, Leyla Mei, Tomio Geron, Kate Reuther, Scott Blumenthal, Craig Canapari, Swati Sharma, Amina Steinfels, Tariq Jaffer, Uditi Sen, Subhash Kateel, Sahar Sadjadi, Khary Polk, Kara Lynch, Adrienne Fricke, Sylvia Maria Gross, Marcelo Montes-Penha, Shanna Lorenz, Gaiutra Bahadur, and Anna DePold Hohler.

For their unfailing love and support, I do not have thanks enough to give to my family: Nirmala Reddy, Narasimha Reddy, Sumathi Reddy, and Jonathan Rockoff. And for pure joy and light: Nikhil Reddy Rockoff and Priya Reddy Rockoff.

Finally, in memoriam: To my cousin Vinod Reddy and to my friend and our guardian angel, Natalie Sullivan Bimel.