The word ‘elite’ is used often, especially in debates about justice, democracy, and global inequality, by people with very different political and ethical views, from Christian Democrats to Marxists. But who are we talking about, exactly? How do we account for the huge differences between, for example, the intellectual elite, the colonial elite, the nouveau riche and the postcolonial elite? And what happens when we pretend that all of these people belong to one single group called ‘the elite’? A conversation with novelist Roger Célestin, and many other critical thinkers.