Catherine M. Cameron - Captives: How Stolen People Changed the World

I trace the origins of this book to an email from Jim Skibo in spring 2005 inviting me to organize a Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry conference for the University of Utah Press (Jim was editor for the series). Encouragement from Jim and Jeff Grathwohl, then editor of the University of Utah Press, allowed me to develop an idea into a long-term study. The participants in the Utah conference and resulting book helped enormously in shaping my ideas about captives and I thank them all: Susan Alt, Ken Ames, Brenda Bowser, James Brooks, Warren DeBoer (who also pointed me toward some of the illustrations for the book), Judith Habicht-Mauche, Laura Junker, Noel Lenski, Debra Martin, Peter Peregrine, Peter Robertshaw, and Ann Stahl. My many conversations with Brenda Bowser were especially helpful. I wrote the first chapter for this book as a fellow with the University of Colorados Center for the Humanities and Arts (200910). The fellowship involved meeting biweekly with a group of scholars from across campus who were studying migration (that years topic) from a myriad of perspectives: historical, political, literary, and anthropological. Reading and talking about our work was tremendously stimulating and I thank: Pompa Banerjee, Ozge Celik, Cline Dauverd, Nan Goodman, Kira Hall, John Leffel, Anne Lester, Deepti Misri, and Marni Thomson.

I wrote much of the rest of the book as a residential scholar at the School for Advanced Research ( SAR ) in Santa Fe, during 201011. The year at SAR was a transformative experience for me. I worked with a close community of scholars who came from a variety of disciplines. We met often to enjoy food and explore each others research. My thanks to Jamila Bargach, Gloria Bell, Lucas Bessire, the late Linda Cordell, Sarah Croucher, Doug Kiel, Teresa Montoya, and Melissa Nelson, whose careful critiques made a significant impact on the book. James Brooks, then president of SAR and a founding scholar of captive studies, was (and continues to be) enormously generous with his time and advice and I am most grateful. John Kantner, then vice president at SAR , was also a great resource during that year.

My archaeological colleagues at the University of Colorado read and commented on several chapters of the book during our monthly archaeology lunch meetings. I thank Doug Bamforth, Gerardo Gutierrez, John Hoffecker, Art Joyce, Steve Lekson, Scott Ortman, and Payson Sheets. Payson also provided me with a wealth of articles on slaves and slavery from his wide reading. Very special thanks to Beth Dusinberre of the University of Colorado Department of Classics, who generously provided comments on a draft of the entire manuscript. At the University of Nebraska Press, Matt Bokovoy and Pekka Hmlinen offered many helpful comments for developing the manuscript.

Also in Colorados Department of Classics, Noel Lenskis work with slavery in the ancient world has been an inspiration. In fall 2013 Noel and I co-organized a conference with the theme What Is a Slave Society and then we jointly taught a class on global slavery. Both the conference and class took my knowledge of the slave experience worldwide to new levels. I thank Noel, the conference participants, and students in the class.

Many people have discussed captives with me, suggested references, passed on news clippings, and recommended new avenues for research. Although I wont attempt to name them all, they have my thanks, especially for listening and being interested. Mary Brooks, Joy Margheim, and Lindsay Johansson did a wonderful job editing the manuscript, which greatly improved it.

Finally, my interest in captives was stimulated in part by my childhood aunt, Tien Fuh Wu, whose father sold her into domestic slavery when she was just five years old. This book is dedicated to Tien, to all of the girls and women through time who endured slavery, and to those who not only survived but contributed significantly to the cultures they joined and the world in which we now live.