Читать книгу Living with Nkrumahism - Jeffrey S. Ahlman - Страница 9

Acknowledgments

I first traveled to Ghana in December 2004 as part of a study abroad course run by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Center for African Studies. As one of the directors of the course, Jean Allman helped introduce me to Ghana and the study of its history. Ever since, she has continued to support me and my research with her wise counsel and critical eye. At the University of Illinois, I also benefited from the insights and guidance of James Brennan, the late Donald Crummey, Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, and Charles Stewart. Kwame Essien, Bruce Hall, Erica Hill, Abdulai Iddrisu, Ryan Jones, Alice Jones-Nelson, Lessie Tate, Habtamu Mengistie Tegegne, and Brian Yates further provided a rich intellectual community and support system during my time there. The seeds of this project can also be found in my time at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where Walter Rucker introduced me to the study of Nkrumah and pan-Africanism, and James Le Sueur encouraged me to think more critically about the challenges of historicizing decolonization.

In Ghana, my utmost gratitude goes to those who graciously took the time to sit down with me (formally and informally) to talk about their experiences living with Nkrumahism. Furthermore, Abdulai Iddrisu and Emily Asiedu each provided me with homes when needed during my travels. In 2009, Kofi Baku kindly provided a forum for me to present my research in the University of Ghana’s Department of History. In Ghana, I also enjoyed the wisdom and guidance of the staffs of the George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs and of the various branches of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department I visited. In particular, Edward Addo-Yobo and James Naabah at the Padmore Library truly made this project possible by introducing me to the Bureau of African Affairs files held by this wonderful and unique repository. In the United States, their counterparts at the Howard University Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the Smith College Archives, the Mount Holyoke College Archives, the Yale University Archives and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Princeton University Archives, and the New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture were similarly inviting and helpful during my and my research assistants’ visits. I also want to thank Kwesi Asiedu and Ben Cudjoe, who each aided me with the interview and transcription process.

Among Africanists, Jennifer Hart and Bianca Murillo have long helped me think through the challenges of this project and, over the years, each has generously read and commented on significant portions of the work, answered questions, and offered guidance and friendship. Emily Callaci and Priya Lal were also kind enough to offer their time and energy in commenting on portions of the book. Craig and Sarah Waite added to my sense of community while researching the book. Between 2009 and 2012, I was fortunate enough to receive fellowships from the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies and the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Africana Studies, which further enriched my network of colleagues interested in African and pan-African studies. Among those who I had the privilege of working with and learning from at these institutions were Sara Berry, Tshepo Chery, Julia Cummisky, Adam Ewing, Ben Fagan, Jonathan Fenderson, Roquinaldo Ferriera, Bukky Gbadegesin, Anatoli Ignatov, Isaac Kamola, Pier Larson, Joe Miller, Anoop Mirpuri, Cody Perkins, Noel Stringham, Alice Wiemers, and Thabiti Willis. Joe Miller in particular expanded the ways in which I thought about and understood the African past. Sara Berry was similarly generous during my year at Johns Hopkins and afterwards. Likewise, in Baltimore, Elizabeth Schmidt—whose studies on Guinea have long inspired my own thinking about African nationalism, decolonization, and Cold War politics—served as a mentor, helping me navigate the project’s conceptualization as a book. More broadly, David Amponsah, Lacy Ferrell, Harcourt Fuller, Frank Gerits, Leslie James, Keri Lambert, Liz McMahon, Stephan Miescher, Nate Plageman, Jeremy Pool, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Paul Schauert, Ben Talton, and Meredith Terretta all provided support, guidance, and friendship as I pursued this project.

Since 2012, my institutional home has been Smith College. It is hard to imagine a more welcoming and intellectually stimulating community of scholars and students than those I have had the pleasure of working with in the college’s History Department and African Studies Program. Through a writing group started in 2013, Reem Bailony, Josh Birk, Sergey Glebov, Sarah Hines, Liz Pryor, Shani Roper, and Nadya Sbaiti have read and commented on nearly every aspect of the book. Likewise, in taking on the burden of running a History Department overrun by assistant professors, Marnie Anderson, Ernest Benz, Darcy Buerkle, Jennifer Guglielmo, Richard Lim, Lyn Minnich, and Ann Zulawski have selflessly created the space for all of us assistant professors to succeed, while also serving as invaluable mentors. Elliot Fratkin, Katwiwa Mule, Greg White, and Louis Wilson have played equally generous roles in the African Studies Program. Pinky Hota and Christen Mucher have always been available to talk through ideas and strategize. Furthermore, one of the true joys of working at a place like Smith is the institutional commitment to bringing undergraduates into one’s research. As research assistants, Jona Elwell, Elizabeth Hoffmeyer, and Freda Raitelu have each contributed to this book in profound ways.

Several institutions have also made this book possible through their generous funding. The University of Illinois and Smith College have provided significant support for my research. Likewise, it is hard to imagine a fellowship opportunity that could offer as enriching an experience as that offered by the University of Virginia’s Woodson Institute. My tenure at Johns Hopkins University was similarly fulfilling. Furthermore, the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Mellon Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Original Sources, the American Historical Association’s Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant, and the West African Research Association’s Pre-doctoral Fellowship all made the fieldwork and archival research for this project possible. Furthermore, Cambridge University Press and the University of Wisconsin Press kindly allowed me to use adapted and revised portions of articles I previously published in the Journal of African History and Ghana Studies in this book. Additionally, Kristy Johnson provided valuable copyediting assistance at various stages of the project, as has Ed Vesneske, Jr., to the final manuscript. At Ohio University Press, I want to thank Gillian Berchowitz, the staff who designed the book, the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript, and the trio of editors of the New African Histories series—Jean Allman, Allen Isaacman, and Derek Peterson—for their enthusiasm for the project and help in sharpening my writing and arguments as I sought to turn a manuscript into a book.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family in Nebraska and Massachusetts. My parents, Roger and Julie Ahlman, have long encouraged me, as have my sisters, Sarah Hoins and Laura Ahlman. My grandparents—Donnie Dyer, Marean Dyer, and Marjorie Ahlman—have always been there for me. Likewise, Gene, Michelle, and Allison Hasenkamp have kindly adopted me into their family. Furthermore, Michelle’s generosity in helping with childcare was invaluable in helping me finish the book. Finally, for sixteen years, Katie Ahlman has been my closest friend and companion, living with (and enduring) this project in all its incarnations. It is nearly impossible to thank her enough for her support, encouragement, and patience. At five now, our daughter, Emmanuelle, has provided the fruitful distractions required for moving this project forward.