process of developing and finalizing this manuscript has led me to understand that writing a book is a social act that involves the direct support of a wide network of advisors, mentors, colleagues, and family members. I first encountered the core theoretical questions that this book engages with during my undergraduate studies at Bates College. There, under the guidance of Kiran Asher and Peter VonDoepp, I undertook a senior thesis that engaged with debates on globalization, the transnational movement of cultural practices, and political economy. Both Kiran and Peter have continued to offer their mentorship and support, and I offer my thanks to them.
I am deeply indebted to faculty members in the Department of Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center for the rigorous training and professional guidance that I received over the course of my graduate studies. Particular thanks are in order to the members of my doctoral committee, which included Don Robotham, Ida Susser, and David Harvey. Each of my graduate advisors provided me with direction, critique, and encouragement as this project went through various phases. This book—and the ethnographic contributions that it offers—is reflective of the theoretical and professional direction that was provided by the members of my doctoral committee. Here I offer my full and unreserved thanks for their training, mentorship, and guidance. Thanks are also in order to other members of the department who provided mentorship and support during my graduate studies, including Michael Blim, Gerald Creed, Kate Crehan, Louise Lennihan, Shirley Lindenbaum, Jeff Maskovsky, and Katherine Verdery. I must also thank Ellen DeRiso for her guidance, support, and friendship as I navigated the institutional infrastructure of a large public university. I also offer my gratitude to T. Dunbar Moodie for reading an early version of this book and offering insightful feedback on areas for further development.
In addition to my academic training in the US, I have been privileged to work with and learn from members of the South African academic community. I am grateful for the support offered by Nicoli Nattrass during my field research, as she generously offered institutional affiliation, personal support, and critical feedback. During my time as a visiting researcher at the Aids and Society Research Unit, a part of the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town, I met colleagues who offered their support and insight on the politics of HIV/AIDS including Eduard Grebe, Elizabeth Mills, and Atheendar Venkataramani. I have also received encouragement and guidance from South African scholars including Patrick Bond, Bill Freund, Steven Friedman, Rob Gordon, Hylton White, Mugsy Spiegel, David Sanders, Zolani Ngwane, Devin Pillay, and Jeremy Seekings. My thanks to all those listed, and those who I may have unintentionally omitted, for their support of my work.
This project has also benefitted from further training and mentorship that I received during the course of a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Human Economy Programme at the University of Pretoria. My thinking on HIV/AIDS politics continued to evolve in the vibrant academic environment cultivated by program codirectors Keith Hart and John Sharp. The conceptual approach toward transnational sociopolitical dynamics that I developed during my postdoctoral fellowship was buttressed by Keith’s uplifting positivity and support and by John’s probing inquiries. Thanks also to those whose ideas animated the active seminars within which some of the core ideas of this book were molded, including Theo Rakopoulos, Tijo Salverda, Doreen Gordon, Camille Sutton-Brown, Jürgen Schraten, Albert Farré, Juliana Braz Dias, Busani Mpofu, Mallika Shakya, Booker Magure, Vito Laterza, Marina Martin, and Francisco Ngongo.
My time in Pretoria included a period when I worked as a senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology. My thanks to all those who made my experience at the University of Pretoria productive, enjoyable, and irreplaceable relative to the development of this work. Thanks to Innocent Pikirayi, John Sharp, Detlev Krige, Fraser McNeil, Ceri Ashley, and Jimmy Pieterse for their collegiality, support, and friendship. I would also like to thank the late Lynnette Holtzhausen for her friendship and guidance as I navigated the process of securing work permits, acquiring visas, and learning the administrative norms of a South African academic institution.
While core concepts and approach were developed during my doctoral and postdoctoral studies, this book was written in its entirety during my time at the University of Iowa, where I benefitted from the active support of senior colleagues. In particular, I offer my deepest thanks to Ellen Lewin, who read both early and refined chapter drafts, offering extensive and invaluable feedback and guidance on the narrative that became this book. Meena Khandelwal was also an essential source of support, offering guidance and reading chapter drafts as I navigated university life as a junior faculty member, developed articles, and wrote a book manuscript. I cannot thank either of my aforementioned colleagues enough for their mentorship and guidance. In addition, I want to thank Paul Greenough and Michael Chibnik for their input as I navigated the world of book publishing for the first time. Their feedback on early drafts of the book proposal helped me to better understand a different domain of academic publishing. I also benefitted from the active encouragement and support of other members of the Department of Anthropology, including James Enloe, Cynthia Chou, Andrew Kitchen, Matthew Hill, Margaret Beck, Elana Buch, Emily Wentzell, Scott Schnell, Laurie Graham, Katina Lillios, Heidi Lung, Bob Franciscus, Erica Prussing, and Russ Ciochon. Faculty members affiliated with the Global Health Studies Program were another source of guidance and support, and I offer my gratitude to Christopher Squier, Mariola Espinosa, Maureen McCue, Robin Paetzold, Mary Wilson, Jeanine Abrons, and Claudia Corwin. I would also like to thank Beverly Poduska, Shari Knight, Allison Rockwell, and Karmen Berger for their guidance and support in avoiding administrative pitfalls as I navigated the tenure track at the University of Iowa.
Funding from several sources supported the process of developing my early research and this book project. An Africanist Doctoral Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, augmented by a grant from CUNY, supported my fieldwork. However, a key source of funding and support was Ida Susser’s research initiative South Africa’s Civil Society Organizations and AIDS Treatment Access, funded by the National Science Foundation. Regarding this, as in many other matters of professional development, my deep thanks to Ida. A fellowship at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at CUNY supported the early stages of writing. In addition, a writing fellowship awarded through the City University of New York was essential to supporting the process of finalizing the work that eventually became this book.
As is often the case, the book that follows has been completely rewritten and bears little resemblance to its first iteration. Indeed, follow-up research supported by the Human Economy Programme at the University of Pretoria was essential for re-examining my approach to understanding the politics of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. My thanks to both Keith Hart and John Sharp for their support of my continued research on the local politics of HIV/AIDS, public health, and treatment access in South Africa. The process of writing the book was supported by the University of Iowa granting a Flexible Load Assignment during the fall 2017 semester, which enabled me to finalize necessary revisions to the manuscript without the usual rigors of university teaching. In addition, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa helped to finalize the book through subvention funding to cover the cost of indexing and image rights. I would also like to thank Peter Agree and Lily Palladino for their supportive editorial approach as I navigated the review process at the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Last but certainly not least, my family has shown me endless support as I have worked through my studies and the early career stages of academia. Between completing my doctoral studies, navigating a postdoctoral fellowship, securing a visiting position, and life on the tenure track, my family has seen me through the ups and downs that inevitably accompany this process. My mother, Claudia; father, Richard; brothers Greg, Matt, and Thurston; stepmother Darcy; and sister Zoe have offered their encouragement and unconditional love throughout. I would also like to thank my godparents, Bruce and Jill Winningham, for their support and guidance over the years. In addition, my now-deceased grandmother Claudia and grandfather James were always extremely supportive as I worked through my graduate studies, and I offer them my gratitude.
While everyone discussed above has helped to bring this book into existence in some way, it has been the support of my loving, intelligent, and beautiful partner Kat that has carried
