Acknowledgements
It has been almost five years since the prototype of this monograph was published in Japanese by the University of Tokyo Press, in 2016. After complete and drastic revision with much supplementation, it is my great honor to be given this tremendous opportunity to provide this monograph to international readers. I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to the chief editor of the ISAS series, Toru Miura, and Brill for facilitating the publication and offering sound advice and support.
With respect to preparing the manuscript, I owe thanks to many researchers for their comments, criticism, and advice. I was lucky to have many âtest readersâ with various backgrounds, including specialists in not only Central Asia but also the French colonial empire and the social anthropology of the African nomads. My heartfelt thanks to Jin Noda, Tomohiko Uyama, Norihiro Naganawa, Katsunori Nishiyama, Chikako Hirano, Chimedyn Shinjilt, Itsuhiro Hazama, Daniel Prior, and Virginia Martin. I must also express special thanks to Hisao Komatsu for reading the final manuscript and giving valuable comments and advice with the copy of related sources.
I am also grateful to the researchers from Central Asia: Janyl Abdyldabek kyzy, Askar Bedelbaev, Aiida Kubatova, Gulmira Sultangalieva, and Ulzhan Tuleshova. Owing to their collaboration, in 2018, I had great opportunities to hold international workshops in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, where I spoke about my research and the book project. I gratefully acknowledge the comments and criticism I received from the audience, which I made note of and have incorporated in this monograph as much as was possible. Unfortunately, I regret to say that Janyl Abdyldabek kyzy passed away on January 6, 2021. As a great-granddaughter of Shabdan, she not only managed the private archive but also showed great interest in her great-grandfather, publishing his biography. Every time I saw her, I was exposed to intellectual stimulation and inspiration, which, needless to say, helped enormously to accomplish this monograph. I would like to take this occasion to extend my most heartfelt wishes of peace to her soul.
In organizing the workshops and preparing the manuscript, I was supported by the âProject to Promote Joint Research Centers of Distinction to Provide Enhanced Support for Wasedaâs Islamic Area Studies Centerâ (FY 2016â2018), approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). I express my cordial gratitude to Keiko Sakurai, ex-director of the Waseda University Organization for Islamic Area Studies. Without her understanding and encouragement, this monograph would not have been possible. I deeply appreciate my current affiliation, the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS), for providing the superior research environment that allowed me enough time to complete the project. This project also owes much to the generous financial support from the Waseda University: âHumanities and Social Sciences English-language Scholarly Book Publishing Support Program (FY 2019)â and âSupport for Academic Paper Publication (FY 2020).â I wish to express my thanks to Space-Time, Inc. (
Finally, I would like to thank my familyâYuriko, Subaru, Hideaki, Yumi, Taizo, and Keijiroâfor their daily support and encouragement. I dedicate this monograph to my late grandfather, Kenzaburo Aoki (1915â2002), whose career and experience as an army officer of the Empire of Japan and way of life after WWII is the biggest inspiration for this book.
Tetsu Akiyama
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Tokyo
January 2021