What makes an elite? This authoritative new volume examines elite groups in power across Europe, North America, Mexico, Peru, Indonesia and Africa to answer this question fully at a time of their increasing dominance.

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