After the Postcolonial
A series sponsored by the Smuts Memorial Fund
University of Cambridge
AbdouMaliq Simone, Improvised Lives
polity
Copyright © AbdouMaliq Simone 2019
The right of AbdouMaliq Simone to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2019 by Polity Press
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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2339-9
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Gratitude is extended to: the Smuts Fund of Cambridge University for sponsoring the three lectures on which this monograph is based; Gautam Bhan of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, who provided invaluable advice and support for organizing the manuscript and providing logistical support for work in India; Anant Maringanti and the Hyderabad Urban Lab, for hosting the residency program where much of the manuscript was written, and to Sushmita Pati, Priya Sen, and Tripta Chandola for their support for work in Delhi; Edgar Pieterse, Lisa Damon, John Thompson, and Morten Nielsen for reading various iterations of the manuscript, as well as the “Group of 20” colleagues and friends assembled at Cambridge University on November 16, 2017, to review the project; Rika Febriyani, for her collaboration on every aspect of this project; and, above all, Ash Amin, for making this all possible and for his belief in me.
For
Zaira Cheyenne Simone and Na’ilah Xazaar Simone