Drawing on a diverse, comparative ethnographic literature, this new volume examines the intimate spaces and cultural practices of those elites who occupy positions of power and authority across a variety of different settings.
Using ethnographic case studies from a wide range of geographical areas, including Mexico, Peru, Amazonia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Europe, North America and Africa, the contributors explore the inner worlds of meaning and practice that define and sustain elite identities. They also provide insights into the cultural mechanisms that maintain elite status, and into the complex ways that elite groups relate to, and are embedded within, wider social and historical processes.

List of Contributors. List of plates. 1. Introduction: Towards an Anthropology of Elites Cris Shore Part I Elites, Politics and Peripheries 2. World Society as an Old Regime 3. The Powers Behind the Masks: Mexico's Political Class and Social Elites at the End of the Millennium John Gledhill 4. Gente Boa: Elites in and of Amazonia Stephen Nugent 5. Elites on the Margins: Mestizo Traders in the Southern Peruvian Andes Penny Harvey 6. The Vanishing Elite: Political and Cultural Work of Nationalist Revolution in Sri Lanka Jonathan Spencer 7. The Changing Nature of Elites in Indonesia today C.W.Watson Part II Elites, Hegemony and Tradition 8. Settlers and their Elites in Indonesia Today C.W.Watson 9. Questions of Cultural Rights: Cultural Heritage and Nation in Mali and Cameroon Michael Rowlands 10. The Construction of Elite Status in the Southern Highlands of Madagascar Sandra Evers 11. Revising the Past: the Heritage Elite and Native Peoples in North America Laura Peers 12. Revolution and Royal Style: Problems of Post-socialist Legitimacy in Laos Grant Evans Part III Elites, Professionals and Networks 13. How Far Can You Go? English Catholic Elites and the Erosion of Ethnic Boundaries John Eades 14. Pre-symptomatic Networks: Tracking Experts Across Medical Science and the New Genetics Monica Konrad 15. Epilogue Ronald Frankenberg