© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 DOI: 10.1163/156913311X590655 Comparative Sociology 10 (2011) 614–635 brill.nl/coso COMPARATIVE S O C I O L O G Y Anti-Elites as N ew Elites: Complexities o Elite Perormance in Bafed Bolivia on Salman a) and Ximena Soruco Sologuren b) a) Associate Professor Department of Social and Cultur al Anthropology VU University Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV Amsterdam, Te Netherlands [email protected] b) Independent researcher and lecturer In Bolivia and Ecuador [email protected] Abstract Tis article argues that recent political changes in Bolivia, leading to the frst indigenous president in the country’s history being inaugurated in 2006, unsettled the traditional schemes o societal stratifcation, as well as the traditional ly accepted markers o elite-hood. As a consequence, not only have new elites come to the ore, but they also modifed the material, symbolic and political parameters with which elites demonstrate and arm their position, leading to new searches or sel-positioning as elites. Some sectors o the old elites developed an egoistic, revengeul subjectivity bringing bloodshed to the country. Te new elite, on the contrary, is ragmented, conused and in part reluctant to perorm as elite. Keywords Bolivia, elites, anti-elite elites, political change, indigenous In the new Bolivia represented by indigen ous president Evo Morales, pres- idential symbolism underwent a radical plot twist. On at least hal o the photos published by newspapers and press agencies o the incumbent pres- ident, “Evo” (as he is usually reerred to by riend and oe) ap pears covered with conetti and adorned with a oral wreath. Te pictures are seldom