Ferguson - Declarations of dependence: money, aesthetics, and the politics of care

I am profoundly grateful to the family, friends, and colleagues who enabled me to write Declarations of Dependence. I thank series editors Marco Abel and Roland Vgs for their guidance in shepherding an unlikely project to completion; Brendan Cook for his indefatigable support and command of early modern metaphysics and aesthetics; friends William Saas, Todd Barnes, and Jonathan Haynes for providing judicious feedback on imperfect chapters; and Steven Shaviro for his stunning magnanimity in responding to my manuscript. For both financial and professional support, my thanks to Warren Mosler; the Binzagr Institute for Sustainable Prosperity (especially Fadhel Kaboub and Mathew Forstater); the Modern Money Network; Roland Greene, Luis Rincon, and Adam Morris at Arcade; Jordan Rose and the History of Art Department at UC Berkeley; and my associates in the Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies at the University of South Florida (Dan Belgrad, Andrew Berish, Sara Dykins Callahan, Maria Cizmic, Bill Cummings, James DEmilio, Benjamin Goldberg, Todd Jurgess, Christie Rinck, and Brook Sadler). This book would have been impossible without the ongoing engagement of my comrades in the MMT community. Most dear to me are Jorge Amar Benet, Ral Carrillo, Alexander Douglas, Timothy Fong, David Freund, David Glotzer, Mitch Green, Rohan Grey, Robert Hockett, Stavros Karageorgis, Stephanie Kelton, Mikey McDowell, Rebecca Rojer, Maxximilian Seijo, Nathan Cedric Tankus, Pavlina Tcherneva, and Benjamin Wilson.

I have long depended on the encouragement of my confidants in the humanities, including Nima Bassiri, Gavin Benke, Stephanie Boluk, Mona Bower, Norman Gendelman, Paul Haacke, James Harker, James Hodge, Tung-Hui Hu, Anna Kornbluh, Benjamin Morgan, Julie Napolin, Scott Richmond, Peter Skafish, Yannik Thiem, Heather Warren-Crow, Damon Young, and Genevieve Yue. Living in Florida, I have come to rely on the generosity of Alycia Alexander-Guerra, Sari Altschuler, Jan Awai, Devon Brady, Gena Camoosa, Jennifer Cazenave, Brian Connolly, Jasdeep Cook, Nicholas de Villiers, Darcie Fontaine, Audrey Raymi Grounds, Ross Grounds, Julia Irwin, Chris Parsons, Steve Prince, Mario Rendina, Lois Rendina, Adam Schwartz, and Aaron Walker. Meanwhile, I owe so much to so many in California. Big ups to my Valley Boys: Romesh Fernando, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Klinghoffer, Brian Smith, and Jason Weissbrod. Thank you to mentors Whitney Davis, Colin Gardner, Ann Haley, Kevin McDermott, Chris Nealon, Anne Nesbet, Constance Penley, Bhaskar Sarkar, Kaja Silverman, Charis Thompson, and Linda Williams.

My family has continuously supported my endeavorsastoundingly, even when no one knows what I am up to. I am forever indebted to my loving and open-minded parents, Frank Ferguson and Lisa Ferguson, and to my sister Lauren Ferguson-Wilhite and her family, Jeff Wilhite, Aidan Wilhite, and Preston Wilhite. I cherish Jeanne Rust, Robert Rust, Paul Rust, Lesley Arfin, Anne Rust, and Alexis Madsen. I am also thankful to Dennis Levitt and Jane Gordon, whose parent-like guidance and leftist library played essential roles in shaping the person I have become.

At last, I dedicate this book to Amy Rustand to our two boys, Elias and Aubrey. Amy, thanks for your compassion and brilliance. Thank you for two exhausting little firecrackers. And thank God for wine, TV , and grownup conversation. You are my everything.