This text is a collaborative study of a famously complex society, that of the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Focusing on the core institutions of kinship and intercaste relations, the different contributions to this study analyze the cultural specificities of Newar society.

"Contested Hierarchies" is a collaborative study by six anthroplogists (two British, one American, one French, one Japanese and one Nepali) of a famously complex society, that of the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Focusing on the core institutions of kinship and intercaste relations, the different contributions to this study analyze the cultural specificities of Newar society.