I am profoundly grateful to everyone who helped make this book possible. Given the book’s breadth, I could not have written it without the help and generosity of hundreds of people. Thank you especially to everyone who spoke with me about my research, who hosted me during my travels, and who helped arrange visits, tours, meetings, interviews, interpretation and translation, access to research materials, meals, lodging, transportation, and other critical assistance. There is no way to appropriately thank the hundreds of people and organizations that deserve thanks. I wish I could thank everyone by name, and apologize in advance to anyone I have accidentally overlooked.
First, I must thank the Chagossian people for making so much of my work and career possible. A special thanks goes to the Chagos Refugees Group, Chagos Committee (Seychelles), Chagos Football Association, Olivier Bancoult, Marilyne Bancoult, the Bancoult family, Sabrina Marie Jean, Ghislain Jean, and the Jean family. Thank you as well to others who have been tremendous mentors, colleagues, and friends since I began this work in 2001, including Shirley Lindenbaum, Michael Tigar, Jane Tigar, Ali Beydoun, UNROW clinic members, Richard Gifford, Robin Mardemootoo, Phil Harvey, Wojtek Sokolowski, Laura Jeffery, Dick Kwan Tat, and Simon Winchester.
Thank you to friends in many other parts of the world: In Manta, Ecuador, thank you, Alberto Chonillo and the widows and other family members of those who tragically died on the Jorge IV. I am still trying to share your story as widely as possible. In Germany thank you to Barbara Danowski, Maria Höhn, Elsa Rassbach, Sandra Archer, Kilian Bluemlein, DFG-VK, and the Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center Public Affairs Offices. In Guåhan/Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, I send deep thanks and appreciation to Julian Aguon, Michael Bevacqua, Leevin Camacho, Hope Cristobal Sr., Hope Cristobal Jr., Cara Flores-Mayes, LisaLinda Natividad, James Oelke, the Hofschneiders, University of Guam, Vivian Dames, and We are Guåhan. For my work in Cuba, thank you, Jana Lipman and everyone I met at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and Joint Task Force GTMO. In Honduras, thanks especially to COFADEH, Dana Frank, Bertha Oliva, Camille, Oscar, Simón, and the Soto Cano Air Base Public Affairs Office.
In Italy, there are many, many people to thank, including Laura Bettini, Michael Blim, Cinzia Bottene, Manuel Falsarella, Lindsay Harris, the late Olol Jackson, Antonio Mazzeo, Marco Palma, Francesco Pavin, Pizzeria da Michele, Gordon Poole, Angelica Romano, Philip Rushton, Sonia Salvini, and Stephanie Westbrook, as well as many more in Vicenza, including Anna, Caterina, Delfino, Diletta, Emanuele, Fede, Grappa, Janis, Jimi, La Billo, Lorena, Marta, Martina, Massimo, Monica, Moran, Nicoletta, Rosella, Ska, Umberto, Assemblea Permanente We Want Sex, Presidio Permanente No Dal Molin, Gruppo Donne No Dal Molin, and U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza PAO. A special thanks goes to Enzo Ciscato, Emily Ciscato, Martina Copiello, Guido Lanaro, Francesca Marin, Giulia Rampon, Annetta Reams, Luca Rigon, Chiara Spadaro, Katherine Wilson and Salvatore Avallone, Laura Zanardi, and Pietro.
My work in Japan would not have been possible without the help of Kozue Akibayashi, Mitzi Uehara Carter, Eiichiro Ishiyama, Chie Miyagi, Satoko Norimatsu, the late Masahide Ota, Michael and Gretchen Robbins, Sayo Saruta, Suzuyo Takazato, Miyume Tanji, Sunao Tobaru, Ginowan City Hall, Kadena Air Base and Camp Smedley Butler PAOs, and many more friends in Tokyo, Iwakuni, Fukuoka, Naha, Takae, and Henoko. Thank you all. For my work in South Korea, thank you, Christine Ahn, Youngsil Kang, YouKyoung Ko, Seungsook Moon, Yunae Park, Emily Wang, Durebang, and all the inspiring friends I met in Jeju and elsewhere during my travels.
I am deeply thankful for the careful reading and feedback that many people provided during my writing process. They include Mary Amato, Andrew Bacevich, Medea Benjamin, Annie Claus, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Cynthia Enloe, John Feffer, Max Paul Friedman, Greg Grandin, Brooke Kroeger, Peter Kuznick, Catherine Lutz, Adrienne Pine, Rob Rosenthal, Michael Sherry, Elly Truitt, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, participants in the American University Ethnographies of Empire Research Cluster, and 2019–20 coordinators Marcelo Bohrt and Anthony Fontes. Special thanks go to Fred Appel, Jennifer Hammer, and Tom Engelhardt for supporting and encouraging my writing.
Thank you to many other wonderful colleagues and friends who have supported me in so many ways and who make the colleagues/friends distinction irrelevant: Phyllis Bennis, Catherine Besteman, Sarah Block, Michael Cernea, Peter Certo, Paul Thomas Chamberlin, Nancy Chen, Lindsey Collen, Ted Conover, Abby Conrad, the Costs of War Project, Neta Crawford, Kelvin Crow, CUNY Graduate Center, Dave Davis, Mike Davitt, Ray DuBois, Daniel Else, Paul Farmer, Bruce Gagnon, Joseph Gerson, Harjant Gill, Lesley Gill, Roberto González, Zoltan Grossman, Hugh Gusterson, Matt Gutmann, Nell Haynes, Gretchen Heefner, Andrew Hoehn, Amy Holmes, Gustaaf Houtman, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Jean Jackson, Raed Jarrar, Barbara Rose Johnston, Kyle Kajihiro, Jennifer Kavanagh, Dylan Kerrigan, Elizabeth Kerrigan, Ragini Kistnasamy, Lalit de Klas, Louise Lennihan, Chuck Lewis, John Lindsay-Poland, Catherine Lutz, Julie Maldonado, Kate McCaffrey, Carole McGranahan, Devin Molina, Leith Mullings, Network of Concerned Anthropologists, Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition, Miriam Pemberton, Lynne Perri, Stacie Pettyjohn, John Pike, Walter Pincus, David Price, Stephen Rossetti, Stephanie Savell, School of Advanced Research and the Biosecurity and Vulnerability Conference, Lesley Sharp, Service Women’s Action Network, Rodolfo Tello Abanto, Temple University’s U.S. Bases and the Construction of Hegemony symposium, Matt Thomann, Maureen Tong, Micah Trapp, Kalfani Turé, Nick Turse, John Willoughby, Emira Woods, Andrew Yeo, and Wilbert van der Zeijden.
Thank you to all my colleagues in American University’s Department of Anthropology—undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff—for creating such a supportive and enriching community. I wish I could name everyone here, but please know I feel grateful to everyone. Special thanks go to terrific research assistants (and friends): Mysara Abu-Hashem, Andrea Elganzoury, Francesca Emanuele, Aaron Howe, Laura Jung, Siobhán McGuirk, and Michel Tinguiri. Thanks also for the extremely helpful feedback from classes including Craft of Anthropology; the Public Anthropology Clinic; the Public Anthropology Seminar; Refugees, War, and Human Rights; the Violence Seminar; and Writing Ethnography for Social Change. Among many others, thank you, Candelaria, Hope Bastian, Geoff Burkhart, Ori Burton, Juana Castro Bonilla, Annie Claus, Audrey Cooper, Robert Craycraft, Joe Dent, Stacy Fagan, Kaelyn Forde, Sean Furmage, Nell Gabiam, Allie Gardner, Beth Geglia, Jeanne Hanna, Pawan Haulkory, Hoching Jiang, Katalina Khoury, Ben King, Dolores Koenig, Chap Kusimba, Sibel Kusimba, Bill Leap, Manissa Maharawal, Bryan McNeil, Hannah Opperman, Joowon Park, Chris Partridge, Becca Peixotto, Michael Polson, Marta Portillo, Sabiyha Prince, Kareem Rabie, Caroline Robertson, Joeva Rock, Alyssa Röhricht, Dan Sayers, Gretchen Schafft, Josh Schea, Nina Shapiro-Perl, Ed Smith, Emily Steinmetz, Keara Sullivan, Sue Taylor, Susanne Unger, John Villecco, Arvenita Washington-Cherry, Rachel Watkins, Julie Wesp, Brett Williams, Jeanie Wogaman, Buck Woodard, and our great work-study students, including Kayleigh Thompson, Abby Nix, and Jacob Sobel, who helped with this book.
A special, belated thanks goes to Adrienne Pine for getting me teargassed, for graciously putting up with my not crediting you with getting me teargassed, and for being a dear friend always.
Elsewhere at American University, thank you to so many who have been incredibly supportive and helpful, including Dean Peter Starr, Deputy Provost Mary Clark, Provost Dan Myers, former provost Scott Bass, Kelli South, and Mimi Fitig. Thanks also go to other wonderful friends and colleagues, including Akbar Ahmed, Fanta Aw, Kim Blankenship, Lauren Carruth, Erin Collins, DAC, Farhang Erfani, Eileen Findlay, Scott Freeman, Max Paul Friedman, Jolynn Gardner, Nikhat Ghouse, Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, IRB, Despina Kakoudaki, Carl LeVan, Chuck Lewis, Jordan Maidman, Elissa Margolin, Celine Marie-Pascale, Juliana Martinez, Jordanna Matlon, Mieke Meurs, Lynne Perri, Malini Ranganathan, Gwendolyn Reece, Rachel Sullivan Robinson, Theresa Runstedtler, Catherine Schaeff, Cathy Schneider, Courtney Schrader, Susan Shepler, U. J. Sofia, Lauren Tabbara, Katharina Vester, Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Núria Vilanova and Quim Tres and FCB, Linda Voris, Brenda Werth, Barbara Wien, Lily Wong, Gay Young, and Matt Zembrzuski.
There are many other beloved friends and family who have supported, sustained, and assisted me through this long process. Thank you for all your patience with me and for helping in so many ways, from consulting on the smallest details of the book to sharing all the love that kept me going. Although I will surely forget some (sorry!), they include Mom, Dad, Joanne, Adam, Ana, Rachel, Max, Megan, Nolan, Colby, Brian, Todd, Roberto Abadie, Mireille Abelin, Sarah Kowal Alden, Hillary Angelo, Sunny Banwer and Emma Hunter and Annie and Rob and Sam Rosenthal, Barr Barkeem and Lori Lovell, Alisha Berry, Keane Bhatt, the Blumenthals, Leah Bolger, Lisa Braun, Sam Buckingham, Jean Campbell, Assis Castellanos and Lilia, Natalie Chwalisz, Patricia Cogley, Barra Cohen, Lindsay Davison and Sarah Rigney and Rowan and Ruthie, Le Caprice DC, Ellen and Ed and Jeremy and Jonathan and Campa Singer-Vine, the Dworkins, Andrew and Eliza Epstein, Colin Findlay, Jesse Franzblau, Eric Frater, Hilary Galland, the Gan, Susie Goldman, the Goobs, Sam Goodstein and Trisha Miller and Theo, Alex Goren, the Gottfrieds, Aunt Joan Greenbaum, Catherine Griffin and Ryan Benson, Josep Guardiola, Mamadou Gueye, Cory Hartquist, Claire and Dan and Sue and Rudy and Messi Hirsch, Joanne Hirsch and A. T. Stephens, Kate Horner, Amanda Huron, Paulette Hurwitz, the Isaacsons, Andrea Johnson, the Kanters, Lakshmi Kanter, David Keplinger, Josh Kletzkin, Lynn and Morris and David Kletzkin and Jessica Ferro, the Krupskys, Radha Kuppalli, Maia Kutchakaya, Peter and Simki Kuznick, Nicole Laborde, Brenna Lavelle, Randall Lavelle, Steve Lavelle, Willow Lawson and Dan and Max and Sonja Aibel, Kanhong Lin, Rae Linefsky, Malcolm Logan, the Lutzkers, Carola Mandelbaum and Dahn Warner and Olivia and Amalia, Nancy Markowitz, Michelle Marzulo, Jaime Masick, Khyrell and Kiara and Shaun McNeil, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini, Derek and Shelly Musgrove, Meyer Treatment Center friends, Sarah Newman, Alix Olson and Zinn and Gray, Sascha Paladino and Erin Torneo and Cole and Gianluca and Liam, Roee Raz, Alison and Matt Rodgers and Vivian and Veronica and Eleanor, D. J. Rosenthal, Cliff Rosky, Eric Ruben, Nancy Schoenfeld and Lee Weiner, Mara Silver and Frank Scaduto and Liv and Willa, Caroline Simmonds and Jon Cook and Gabriel, Mitzi Sinnott, Anna Stein, Mary Stephens, Shawn Greenbaum and Antonia Stout and Adelaide and Marlowe, Cathy Sulzberger and Joe Perpich, Maria Tonguino, Matthew Tripp, Elly Truitt and Tick Ahearn, Mauricio Tscherny, Dylan Turner, Ellis Turner, Hugh and Lydia Vine, Lee Ving, the Vises, Eirene Visvardi, Maria Amelia Viteri, Deb Yurow, Yan Zheng and Rae Rae, and Ari Zoe.
At University of California Press, thank you to everyone who made the production of this book possible. Thank you especially to Naomi Schneider, Alex Dahne, Summer Farah, Kate Hoffman, Benjy Malings, and Rob Borofsky for many months of support, guidance, and help. Thanks go to Lia Tjandra for your beautiful cover design and to Joan Shapiro for producing the index. Thank you to Susan Silver, for your excellent copyediting, and to Juliana Froggatt, for fine-grained proofreading, which caught so many of my errors and improved the book significantly. Thanks, too, for generously allowing some nonstandardized style choices in this part of the book and for your support and solidarity beyond the page.
Special thanks and appreciation go to Kelly Martin, the book’s cartographer. You have again produced gorgeous maps that are an incredibly important part of this book and my work as a whole. Thank you for your endless patience and collaborative spirit throughout.
Thank you to American University and the College of Arts and Sciences for providing research funds and other support that helped me complete this book. I am grateful for a tremendously lucky (and productive) month spent at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center. Thanks especially go to Pilar Palacio, Alice Luperto, and the entire Bellagio staff (from the kitchen to housekeeping to administration) and to the other friends in residence who enriched my writing and my life (Donald Byrd, Mary Coleman, Zhiyuan Guo, Saed Haddad, Santoshi Halder, Alice Hill, Ming Hu, Kati Marton, Sabrina McCormick, Diego Osorno, Søren Pors, Aparna Rao, and Kathleen Wynne). Thank you to the Stewart R. Mott Foundation’s Fund for Constitutional Government for supporting research trips in 2011–12. Thanks also to the lovely people at the Baker Lane and Michigan Avenue writers’ retreats for putting up with me on more than on occasion.
Love and special memories go to some of the many who are no longer with us, including Rita Elysée Bancoult, Doere Bernhard, Peggy Madden Davitt, Erwin Eichengrün, Joan Gero, Bob Greenbaum, Alan Hirsch, Vera Isenberg, Marty Pinson, Neil Smith, Erwin Stiefel, Tea Stiefel, Lisette Aurélie Talate, Neal Tonken, Gloria Vine, and Ted Vine.