Читать книгу Militarizing Marriage - Sarah J. Zimmerman - Страница 9

Acknowledgments

Research for this book spanned more than a decade and took place in six countries, twenty archival units, and the homes of over fifty West African veterans, widows, and their children. I benefitted from the resources and assistance of many actors, agencies, and institutions throughout the research and writing process. While I may not have the space or faculties of recollection to acknowledge all of them here, I am extremely grateful for their support.

At the University of California, Berkeley, I benefitted from Rocca Fellowships from the Center of African Studies, numerous grants and fellowships from the History Department, grants from the Townsend Center for Humanities, and Foreign Language Area Study Grants through UC Berkeley and Stanford University. The majority of early research was generously supported by a Fulbright-Hayes DDRA Grant.

At Berkeley, Tabitha Kanogo offered invaluable advice that allowed this project to radically evolve from its genesis to conclusion. Many thanks to Richard Roberts at Stanford University for his indispensable knowledge and guidance, as well as for providing me with an Africanist community. Tyler Stovall provided sound counsel and opened doors to a community of French colonial scholars who have drastically improved this book. Mariane Ferme, whose knowledge is unbounded, also read and provided critical insights. Rachel Giraudo, Noah Tamarkin, and Liz Thornberry provided formative feedback on the earliest versions of this book. The Bay Area provided a wonderful community of scholars, intellectuals, and friends throughout and beyond graduate school: Michael Allan, Jon Cole, Corrie Decker, Brandon Essex, Rozy Fredericks, Kemrexx George, Trevor Getz, Blake Johnson, Rico Marcelli, Ivy Mills, Robin Mitchell, Laura Monnig, Erin Pettigrew, Jonathan Repinecz, Martha Saavedra, Maya Smith, Julia Elizabeth Swett, and Toby Warner.

Archivists, archival staff, librarians, and research center staff immensely facilitated the realization of this book. Militarizing Marriage outlasted the careers of several archivists and staff members at the National Archives in Dakar. Directors Papa Momar Diop, Babacar Ndiaye, and Fatoumata Cissé Diarra, as well as archival employees Mamadou Ndiaye, Mossane Diouf, Massamba Seck Sylla, Ibrahima Ndione Mbengue, and Albert Diatta, had great patience and immeasurably influenced this project. Papa Momar Diop provided introductions to Colonel M. L. Touré, Lieutenant Colonel Manga, and Mamdou Koné at the Senegal Museum of Armed Forces, as well as Abdoul Sow and Cheikh Faty Faye of the History Department at FASTEF. Professors Sow and Faye provided access to unpublished masters students’ theses that were part of an oral history project concerning veterans of the tirailleurs sénégalais. At the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, Ousmane Sène, a former teacher and now colleague, provided safe haven for research. WARC’s staff is unparalleled in their hospitality and conviviality.

I am indebted to veterans, widows, and their grown children in Dakar, Saint-Louis, Thiès, Podor, Ziguinchor, Conakry, and Paris who spoke with candor regarding their experiences in French Empire. At the Veterans Bureau in Dakar, I specifically thank Director Alioune Kamara, Amadou Sall, Koly Kourouma, and Adjudant Ba for their assistance in this project. Among others, veterans Joseph à Lô, Allasane Wade, and Urbain Diagne spent many hours teaching me the history of French African soldiers. Sophie Diagne’s friendship and interest in this project opened doors to the Afro-Vietnamese community in Dakar. In Saint-Louis, the concierge at the Veterans Bureau, Mr. Ndow, was a great help. Fatima Fall at the Centre National des Recherches Scientifiques and Ngor Sène at the Préfecture Archives facilitated research in Saint-Louis. Adjudant Sow served as my liaison to Thiès, where Veterans’ Bureau Director Omar Diop and Ousmane Traoré’s family provided support. The director of the Veterans’ Bureau in Ziguinchor, Keba Touré, connected me with veterans. In Conakry, Captain El Hadj Thierno Conté and Marie Yvonne Curtis’s family introduced me to a different set of military memories.

In Paris, I am indebted to the staff and archivists, particularly Mme. Découbert, at Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre and to Cyril Canet in the Service Iconographique in Vincennes. The staff at Établissement de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle de la Défense in Mairie d’Ivry were also extremely helpful, as were those at the National Archives. Colonel Maurice Rives, former commander of tirailleurs sénégalais and military historian, provided new insights for this project. The staff at the National Overseas Archives in Aix-en-Provence and the Diplomatic Archives in Nantes were cordial and accommodating. Captain Eric Warnant at CHETOM in Fréjus went above and beyond the call of duty to assist in accommodations and to remedy a computer failure. In Rabat, Driss Idrissi, Driss Maghraoui, and the Institute des Études Africaines provided collegial support. The staff at the Bibliothèque Nationale du Maroc and Bibliothèque La Source assisted in research for this book.

During years of research, numerous people provided me with hospitality and collegiality along the way. Thanks to David Ansari, Arthur Asseraf, Amadou Ba, Ndiouga Benga, Jennifer Boittin, Emily Burrill, Audrey Celestine, Brandon County, Kelly Duke Bryant, Romain Deschateaux, Rick Fogarty, Ruth Ginio, Lindsay Gish, Cameron Gokee, Dave Glovsky, Walter Hawthorne, Larissa Kopytoff, Abdou Mbodj, Amadou Makhtar Mbow, Martin Mourre, Emily Musil Church, Minayo Nasiali, Derek Rhinehart, Marie Rodet, Lorelle Semley, and Makhroufi Ousmane Traoré. Several people have provided feedback on this book at critical moments: Corrie Decker, Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Trevor Getz, Martin Klein, Benjamin Lawrance, Liz MacMahon, Jonathan Miran, Michelle Moyd, Sue Peabody, and Elizabeth Schmidt. Thanks also to anonymous reviewers and the War and Militarism in African History series editors Alicia C. Decker and Giacomo Macola. At Ohio University Press, Ed Vesneske Jr., Nancy Basmajian, and others greatly improved this book. Thanks to Rachel Kantrowitz for the index.

At Western Washington University, I continued research and wrote in a collegial environment. The West African Research Association provided funding for summer research and the Camargo Foundation In-Residence Writing Fellowship provided a wonderful environment in Cassis, where I finished drafting this book. Through Western, I won several summer grants, as well as the Marjorie and Allen Hatter Research Grant and the Radke Family Faculty Awards Program for Innovations in the Humanities. My colleagues and friends at Western have unwaveringly supported me as a young scholar and have immeasurably contributed to the completion of this work. Thanks to Charles Anderson, Kathryn Anderson, Kaveh Askari, AB Brown, Josh Cerretti, Andy Denning, Amanda Eurich, Michael Fraas, Steven Garfinkle, Jared Hardesty, Lenny Helfgott, Beth Joffrion, Damani Johnson, Tiana Kahakauwila, Kevin Leonard, A. Ricardo Lopez, Kristin Mahoney, Ed Matthieu, Polly Meyers, Johann Neem, Hunter Price, Diana Schenk, Jen Seltz, Silky Shah, and Sarah Zarrow.

My parents Suzanne and David Zimmerman have been steadfast in championing my ambitions. I am greatly indebted to their pragmatism, unwavering support, and enthusiasm for all things. In addition to creating the maps, Isaac Barry intellectually invested in this book. I am grateful for his love, wit, and companionship in the final stages of this project. For nearly two decades, my family in Senegal—Fatoumata Mbodj Faye, Samba Katy Faye, Ndeye Niawe Faye, and Mohamadou Lamine Faye—have ensured that Dakar will always be home. I dedicate this book to them.