ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project began with a suggestion from Gita Srinivasan. She directed my general interest in the South Asian diaspora from initial thoughts of Trinidad, to my family history in East Africa. My father nurtured these seeds of thought - I thank him for his detailed reflections on Ismailism.

As an undergraduate I have benefited from meaningful faculty support at Stanford. My major and thesis advisor Sylvia Yanagisako has been there from the beginning, providing candid criticism and answering panicky e-mails. Purnima Mankekar, my other advisor, has been immensely supportive and provided extremely detailed and insightful comments from Durham, N.C. and Washington, D.C. Lynn Meisch sent me to the field with questions, and Paulla Ebron and Monica Dehart de Galicia brought me back to reflect on the summer. Renato Rosaldo put up with my stubbornness, for which I apologize - his suggestions have definitely informed this draft. I thank Saba Mahmood for her careful comments and thoughts on Islam. I am extremely grateful to Genevieve Bell for her meticulous readings of numerous drafts, sustained support, encouragement, reassurance and Aussie charm. This thesis would not have been possible without her untiring efforts all year long. I must thank Ali Asani of Harvard University who read the completed draft and provided insightful comments based on his intimate knowledge of the literature of Ismailism and Islam. I also acknowledge his invaluable assistance with the glossary.

In several classes, sharing the thesis with my peers has provided me with insight and companionship. I thank BJ Lucero, James Jhun, Noelle Stout, Ashley Snowdon, Paola Morales, Angie Mei and especially Seema Bhangar for their friendship and assurance. My writing has been invaluably informed by numerous conversations with colleagues and friends here in the United States: Nisha Varia, Sherine Hamdy, Dina Al-Kassim, Ritty Lukose, Ebrahim Moosa, Karen Leonard, Lisa Lowe and Barbara Metcalf. I would also like to thank colleagues I met overseas for their engaging conversations and assistance: Avtar Brah, Michael Twaddle, Anise Kanji Ladha and Karim Janmohammed in London; and Sultan Somjee, Shirin Remtulla Walji, Parveen Walji Moloo, Shariffa Keshavjee and Cynthia Salvadori in Nairobi.

For the time I spent in London, I must thank Zulobia, Nizar and Aly Kassam for secrets shared, Indian pizza and an afternoon in Southall. The six weeks I spent in Kenya were painful and isolating ones. I appreciate Naushad Khanbhai for welcoming me in a hostile home, for his immeasurable help in locating informants, and for arranging transportation at difficult times. I thank Noorbanu Kassam for warmth in winter, clean clothes and fresh food. I was only able to last the summer in Kenya through the enormous generosity and refuge provided by Anand Buddhdev and family. Without their concern, my time in Kenya would have been infinitely more miserable. In many ways, they were the family I had hoped to find in Nairobi.

Stanford is exceptional for its extensive support of undergraduate research. Laura "Lor Lor" Selznick has long been an ally and I thank her and her staff for their commitment and belief in our visions. I would especially like to acknowledge Joan and Mel Lane, who made my fieldwork in Kenya a reality. I acknowledge the Department of Anthropology for additional funds, and for more general support over the last two years.

This work is a collaboration on many levels, most clearly in the words and stories of my informants that appear in these pages. I offer sincere thanks to the twenty people who shared their lives with me, and put up with my difficult questions. Finally my thoughts turn towards those people who have provided emotional and spiritual sustenance: Jackie Chuckrey for making me look at the "bigger picture", Micah Carvalho for almost daily reassurance, and Tiffany Kuo for powerbook privileges. I thank my parents, who are finally becoming my friends, for all their sacrifices and worries.