To what extent are intellectuals artisans of nationalism? In this chapter we review past and present anthropological research that has helped to reveal the agency of intellectuals in the projects and operations of states and nations. If the intellectual has long been defined in the Marxian-Gramscian tradition as a social actor with a special praxical investment in ways and forms of knowing, then what we discuss as "intellectualism," the social formation of knowledge, should be understood as a central dimension of the (re)production of nations and nationalism both inside and outside of states. We suggest that further drawing anthropological attention to intellectuals and their knowledge practices (ranging from the poetic-literary to the technical-administrative) will help the anthropology of nations and nationalism to (a) locate the role of human agency in the creation, circulation, and contestation of national culture, (b) capture the intellectual work involved in nationalism and bureaucracy in its full diversity, and (c) imagine a new series of ethnographic access points among educated professionals for the study of nationalism in action.

This paper provides a novel perspective by emphasizing the significance of ritual in the national public sphere, and the relationship between ritual, rumor and the dialectics of state expansion in Mexico. It considers the historical development of political regions in Mexico; outlines the development of local public and national public spheres; then discusses the role of ritual in Mexican political geography. The author provides theoretical and methodological innovations, clarifying the connection between political ritual and the constitution of political communities in the national space.

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