We are grateful to the University of Michigan’s Department of Comparative Literature for its support of the publication of this issue of Absinthe. We also received generous support for this issue from the Michigan Humanities Council (NEH funding for “The Middle East in Metro Detroit”) and from co-sponsors at the University of Michigan, including the Center for South Asian Studies, the Center for Armenian Studies, the Global Islamic Studies Center, and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. This issue would not have been possible without the help, guidance, and suggestions from Professor Kathryn Babayan, and we are deeply indebted to her. Several other faculty and students devoted time and thought to the editing of this issue, and we would like to thank especially the Managing Editors—Lena Grimm and CC Barrick, along with Sanjana Ramanathan and Srimati Ghosal for their careful and thoughtful work.