Culture and Eurocentrism should be stamped made in Minnesota. Indeed, it’s an extended conversation with cherished friends: John Mowitt, Ajay Skaria and Vinay Gidwani most particularly. John asked me, in the last century, whether I thought there was a relation between empire and empiricism. This book does not address that question but, somehow, emerges from it. I could unfailingly rely on him to find the time to engage with a thought or text. Always ready for a good argument, Ajay and Vinay pushed me every step of the way. I cannot conceive of better, more generous interlocutors.
For reading and commenting on various chapters, and conversa- tions over the years, my sincere thanks to Joel Wainwright, Premesh Lalu, Tony Brown, Hoon Song, Diane Detournay, Joe Hughes, Ross Truscott, Tim Watson, Kamala Visweswaran and Andy Elfenbein; all but one have a University of Minnesota connection. Thanks also to Jani Scandura, Aamir Mufti, Divya Karan, Saloni Mathur, Shiney Varghese, Tony Anghie, Gary Minkley, Helena Pohlandt-McCor- mick, Cesare Casarino, Michael Hancher, Suren Pillay, Adam Sitze, Bruce Braun, Sanjay Subramanium, Asanga Welikala, Rita Raley, Lisa Disch, Maurits van Bever Donker, Paula Rabinowitz, Ellen Messer-Davidow, Pamela Leszczynski, Simona Sawhney, Papori Bora, Vasuki Nesiah, Walter Perera, Anna Clarke, Leslie Witz, Da- vid Faust and Becky Adamski. Paul Bowman’s enthusiasm for the project enabled smooth publication. Martina O’Sullivan and the team at RLI were an immense pleasure to work with. The writing went easy when Shreen was around.