This study would not have been possible without the assistance of a number of people—to all of whom I am extremely grateful. I want to take a moment to thank a few of them in particular.
First and foremost, I extend my greatest thanks to all the interlocutors of this study. I am extremely grateful to the men and women who shared their life stories, their feelings and their time with me. I thank them for their hospitality, for trusting me, and for opening up to me. Not only would this research not have been possible without them, their stories and experiences also taught me about love and marriage, and about the journey of migrating for love. Their recollections and our conversations have been very helpful in my own personal circumstances of starting a family abroad.
In addition, I want to thank those in Australia who helped me to get my research started. I am grateful to Mzee Sossy Msomi, Valerie Gatabazi, Tanya Lyons, Gido Mapunda, Sukanya Das, and my second cousin once removed Eva Rennie for welcoming me, for making me feel at home, for inspiring me and motivating me, and for introducing me to interlocutors.
Within the Departments of Anthropology and Development Studies and Sociology, Criminology and Gender Studies at Adelaide University, I want to thank Susan Hemer for advising me and for believing in me from the start, and I am grateful to Rodney Lucas, who helped me get ready for my fieldwork. I also thank Richard Vokes, for supervising me during the first years of my research. His knowledge of literature and his original thinking has positively influenced the study’s directions. I also want to thank the late Graeme Hugo, for his initial interest in my research plans, and his encouragement to move to Adelaide to conduct this research.
I am extremely thankful for my postgraduate supervisors Georgina Drew and Pam Papadelos. Their knowledge, precision, encouragement, patience and kindness have helped and inspired me tremendously. Both have taught me so much about researching and writing. Georgina’s sharpness and skillfulness, and her ability to help me focus—not to lose sight of my arguments and not to get lost in all the interesting theories and approaches—were among the many things I am grateful for. Pam, with her knowledge of the Australian context, of gender, femininity and masculinity, her careful reading of my drafts, as well as her kindness and support were particularly valuable. I feel very lucky I had both of them as my supervisors. In a way Georgina and Pam never stopped supervising me, as they continued to guide and support me during the preparation of this manuscript, by offering me practical advice, proof reading chapters, and through our valuable discussions about my work.
The University of Adelaide has supported me in numerous ways during the process of the research, the writing of the dissertation, and during the process of converting my dissertation into a book. I thank the University of Adelaide for the Adelaide Scholarship International that has supported me throughout this study, and the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies for providing the additional funding for fieldwork. During the last phase of preparing the manuscript, I was supported by the School of Social Sciences by providing me with office space with a beautiful view. I was also supported by my employment at the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Gender Studies.
I want to thank my Brill editors David Fasenfest and Alfredo Saad-Filho for their valuable comments on the manuscript and for guiding me through the process of publishing my work. In addition, I also thank John Liddle for his help copyediting my work. With his help, the accuracy and clarity of the study increased significantly.
I also thank my supervisor for my ba degree at Utrecht University, Geert Mommersteeg, and my supervisors for my MPhil degree at the African Studies Centre, Leiden University, Eileen Moyer and Rijk van Dijk, for inspiring me and encouraging me. They taught me about anthropology in general, my topics in particular, and encouraged and supported me during earlier fieldwork in Zanzibar, Tanzania. This book would not be here without them.
I further want to express my gratitude to the amazing team at Goodstart Melrose Park and the educators at the Pilta and Kuula rooms at the Childcare North Terrace. Their continued dedication and love for my children is truly invaluable.
I am grateful for my friends in the Netherlands, who—sometimes reluctantly—accepted my move to Australia and always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and are still there for me. Fenna, Annechien, Janna, Eline, dank! I thank my sister Josine and her husband Gerard for their support and encouragement. I am honored to name and to express thanks to my partner Kassim.
Finally, to my parents, Hans and Francine Hoogenraad-Rosier, who passed on before I could finish this work. My parents taught me to be curious, to be active and to keep learning. They introduced me to the world through literature, music, art, travels and food, and their own careers and awareness for social justice serve as an inspiration for me. I believe it is their influence that led me to choose anthropology. I am exceptionally grateful for their generosity, their love and support. I know they would have been, or are, the proudest of all. I dedicate this work to them.