The saying “it takes a village to raise a child” could not be more true. In the process of producing this dissertation, I have relied on so many people and accumulated a lot of debt from their generous help. The next couple of pages are therefore dedicated to thanking their tremendous contribution. As usual, naming names risks missing some people. In that case, the error of omission is all mine.

First and foremost, as a field researcher, I have to thank my primary local interlocutors in the field – the ordinary peasants and villagers, who kindly welcomed, chatted with, provided shelter for, and most importantly, embraced this clueless city boy as one of their own. They opened up their homes to me and shared their rich life stories. I learned a lot from them not only about my dissertation topic but also about life in general. For that, I would be forever grateful. A luta continua.

The gruelling dissertation writing process was greatly helped by guidance from my dissertation committee and some other mentors. Kheang Un is the model dissertation adviser that anyone could hope. My time working with him at Northern Illinois University (NIU) has been pleasant and fulfilling both professionally and personally. I really appreciate his commitment to and support for this dissertation project, even when I did not have yet a clear idea of what it would look like. The help of other committee members is also significant. Scot Schraufnagel guides my thinking to be more “PoliSci-y” and methodologically-sounding and is always ready to help with administrative matters. Eric Jones infects me with the historical way of inquiry and convinced me to learn Dutch. Michael Buehler sets a high standard for the study of Indonesian local politics and his willingness to work with me even after his departure to SOAS is highly appreciated. Michele Ford from the University of Sydney did not sit at the dissertation committee, but for me she effectively served as the unofficial fifth member. She took me under her wing and encouraged me to publish and participate in the Southeast Asianist tribe. Her support is always motivating. This dissertation also bears the mark of the late Danny Unger, who read early drafts of the dissertation proposal and gave some important suggestions. Ajarn Danny, you will be missed. Needless to say, the contribution of these mentors has been immense.

Writing this dissertation requires long fieldwork, which in turn requires a lot of logistical support. Thanks to the generous funding from the NIU Political Science Department Russell Smith Scholarship, the Transparency for Development (T4D) Predoctoral Fellowship from the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School and Results for Development Institute, the Visiting PhD Scholar Fund from the University of Sydney’s Southeast Asia Center, and the ENITAS Scholarship from the Institute of Thai Studies at Chulalongkorn University, I was able to conduct two-years of fieldwork in Indonesia. In particular, I would like to thank Steve Kosack, Courtney Tolmie, and Jessica Creighton from the T4D Project for their trust in my work and invitation to collaborate with them. My time in Sydney was also a fruitful one, since I was able to connect with Australia’s Southeast Asian Studies community. My research also benefits from the institutional support of the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education, and Information (LP3ES) in Jakarta, which warmly welcomed me as a Visiting Research Fellow and provided office space throughout my fieldwork period. I thank my colleagues at LP3ES, especially the Institute’s Deputy Director, Triyaka Lisdiyanta, for their support.

The role of my home institution, NIU, is also equally significant. Both the Department of Political Science and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) on campus have been  lively and supportive intellectual homes in the middle of DeKalb’s flatland and its bone-crushing winter, not to mention their financial support and excellent training. I would like to thank the following faculty members in the Department for their professional advice in assisting me to enter Academia Obscura: Michael Clark, Colin Kuehl, Aarie Glas, and Ches Thurber. At the Center, the support of Judy Ledgerwood during her tenure as the Center’s director is very appreciated. Besides intellectual guidance, institutional and collegial support is also crucial. Without the administrative support of April Davis and Jackie Joiner in the Department as well as Kim Wilson and Angie Dybas before their departure, I would be lost in navigating the University’s paperwork. The Center also gave me the opportunity to interact with wonderful Southeast Asianists across campus and take “weird” courses on Southeast Asia’s pre-colonial history and ghosts for instance. The Center’s staffs are also lovely people. Special thanks to Liz Denius for her help in editing my funny English.

The rest of the acknowledgement can be found here: https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/2845/