Shrouded in secrecy and scorned by the general public, Freemasonry has rarely been studied ethnographically. In this book Italian born anthropologist Lilith Mahmud takes us inside this mysterious world for the first time. Focusing on the experiences of the growing number of upper-class Italian women who are joining Masonic lodges, Mahmud reveals how a Masonic identity is formed in the elaborate 33 step initiation rites and how the notion of fraternity remains the ideal for these non-feminist women. Mahmud s work is an ...
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Shrouded in secrecy and scorned by the general public, Freemasonry has rarely been studied ethnographically. In this book Italian born anthropologist Lilith Mahmud takes us inside this mysterious world for the first time. Focusing on the experiences of the growing number of upper-class Italian women who are joining Masonic lodges, Mahmud reveals how a Masonic identity is formed in the elaborate 33 step initiation rites and how the notion of fraternity remains the ideal for these non-feminist women. Mahmud s work is an important contribution to the anthropology of elites in that it shows how enclosed elites orient themselves to public spheres shaped by modern liberal ideologies of the nation. The accountabilities around the conspiratorial define the context in which any elite defines itself to itself and the public; the bind between secrecy and developing cultural capital or distinction; being hidden and being envied; being eccentric and being worldly--all of these themes are brilliantly addressed by Mahmud through ethnography."
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