Wowww..! and well, guess who?

This book began as a doctoral dissertation at Columbia University under the astute guidance of Ainslie Embree, Robert Bone, Trygve Tholfsen, and Edward Said. I am very grateful for their intellectual generosity and constructive advice. Stimulating discussions with Mary Campbell, Richard Andrews, and Peter Sahlins helped sharpen main arguments. I want to thank Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak for her instructive reading of the manuscript and for the many helpful suggestions and comments she took the time to make.

I have benefited from the support of many institutions. The library staffs of Columbia University, the Union Theological Seminary, Teachers College, and the New York Public Library were always resourceful in tracking down elusive material. The National Archives of India, The National Library in Calcutta, and the Madras Literary Society were responsive to many queries. Portions of the book were published in the Oxford Literary Review and Social Text (Fall 1988), vol. 7.

I am grateful to Robert Young, Aijaz Ahmad, and Bruce Robbins for their encouraging response.

Tim Keliy and Timothy Cabot taught me more about ideology and education than they could ever learn from me. Philip and Veena Oldenburg never failed to rush to my assistance in untangling problems related to computers and Indian history, respectively.

Finally, to Edward Said, who inspired me to write this book in the first place, I offer my warmest appreciation. The most encouraging of teachers, he deepened the excitement of intellectual inquiry. His friendship, kindness, generosity, and enthusiasm hold these pages together.

Gauri Viswanathan, on her acknowledgements in Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India