Bill Maurer is associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of three books, including Mutual Life, Limited: Islamic Banking, Alternative Currencies, Lateral Reason.Gabriele Schwab is Chancellor's Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, and faculty associate in anthropology. She is the author of four books, including Subjects Without Selves: Transitional Texts in Modern Fictionand The Mirror and the Killer-Queen: Otherness in Literary Language.