Acknowledgments

      This book has been a long time in the making, and the thanks I owe are many. First and foremost, I thank my mentors at Johns Hopkins University, where I spent several formative years as a graduate student. Sara Berry is my greatest role model as a scholar. Her courses inspired this project, but her encouragement and compassion inspired me as a person. I cannot thank her enough for her insight and mentorship—and for encouraging me to push the boundaries of my thinking. I owe a debt to Pier Larson, who is among the most generous people I know and who inspired me to think more deeply about the connections between environment and culture. At Hopkins, I was fortunate to be part of a great community of scholars. I am grateful to Randall Packard, Jane Guyer, and Ronald Walters for their support of my work, and I am also grateful to the numerous participants in the Africa Seminar including Claire Breedlove, Kelly Duke-Bryant, Walima Kalusa, Otis Mushonga, Emily Osborn, and Elizabeth Schmidt.

      My interest in Africa began while I was an undergraduate at Washington University in Saint Louis. I am thankful to Timothy Parsons, for introducing me to African history, and to Richard Davis and Mungai Mutonya for their mentorship. The late James McLeod, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, supported my burgeoning interest by buying me my first plane ticket to Africa. One of my greatest regrets is that I never got to express my gratitude to him in person.

      This book is based on research that took place on the slopes of Kilimanjaro and in the archives and libraries of Dar es Salaam. I am grateful to the Tanzania Commission of Science and Technology (COSTECH) for granting me permission to conduct my fieldwork. The archivists at the Tanzania National Archives and the librarians at the University of Dar es Salaam’s East Africana Collection helped me navigate the wealth of material in their collections. I am especially grateful to the history faculty at the university—Isaria Kimambo, Fred Kaijage, Oswald Masebo, and Yusufu Lawi—for lending their support, expertise, and encouragement to my work.

      My research took me beyond Tanzania as well. I would like to thank the archivists and staff at the National Archives (Kew), the Rhodes House Library, and the Oxfam Archives in the UK; the Congrégation du Saint-Esprit Archives in Chevilly-Larue, France; and the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. I also thank the library staff at Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and The College of New Jersey for helping me locate materials