Alfred Métraux (; 5 November 1902 – 12 April 1963) was a Swiss and Argentine
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
,
ethnologist
Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology).
Scien ...
and
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
leader.
Early life
Born in
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, Métraux spent much of his childhood in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
where his father was a well-known surgeon resident in
Mendoza. His mother was a
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
n from Tbilisi. He received his secondary and university education in Europe, at the Classical Gymnasium of Lausanne, the
École nationale des chartes
The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the A ...
in Paris, the
École nationale des langues Orientales (Diplome, 1925). The
École pratique des hautes études
The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a .
EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...
(Diplôme, 1927) and the
Sorbonne (
Docteur ès lettres
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...
, 1928). He also studied in Sweden, in
Gothenburg's University and did research at the well-equipped local anthropological museum.
Among his teachers were
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Israël Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociolo ...
,
Paul Rivet, and
Erland Nordenskiöld. While he was still a student he entered into correspondence with Father John Cooper who introduced him to the American school of cultural anthropology. It is said that Father Cooper did not realize at first that his scholarly correspondent was only 19 and 20 years old. They actually met much later, when Métraux came to the United States; but Father Cooper seems to have had considerable influence on Alfred Métraux's thought. Métraux combined in his work the best of both the European and the American tradition of historical anthropology.
Early career
Métraux's professional career was equally cosmopolitan. His interest for anthropology and original languages, began early in his life when his father a medical doctor took an overseas appointment, relocating his family from Lausanne
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
to Mendoza Argentina. During his research years in Argentina, his work was centred in the study and interpretation of native languages, allowing him to create an extensive record of Argentine native ethnic groups, including: CalchaquÃ, GuaranÃ, Chiriguano, Toba & WichÃs, and the Uros-Chipaya. While working on this research, he was invited to collaborate in the writing of the Handbook of South American Indians. Eventually, he founded and became the first director (1928 – 1934) of the Institute of Ethnology at the
University of Tucuman, in Argentina. During this period, he also published an article for the Universidad Nacional De la Plata Museo of Argentina called "Mitos y cuentos de los Indios Chiriguano" Myths and Stories of the Chiriguano Indians.
In 1934–35, he led a French expedition to
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
, publishing an ethnology of the indigenous people of the island. This included a description of one the last women to receive traditional facial tattoos,
Ana Eva Hei.
In 1936 –38, he was a Fellow of the
Bishop Museum
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
in
Honolulu
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
. In 1939, he returned to Argentina and
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
for field research on a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
. In 1940, upon his return to the United States from South America, he was in residence at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
with a renewal of his
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
. That next year, he worked with the Cross Cultural Survey (now the
Human Relations Area Files
The Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF), located in New Haven, Connecticut, US, is an international nonprofit membership organization with over 500 member institutions in more than 20 countries. A financially autonomous research agency based a ...
) on South American data and was associated with such people as
John Dollard
John Dollard (29 August 1900 – 8 October 1980) was an American psychologist and social scientist known for his studies on race relations in America and the frustration-aggression hypothesis he proposed with Neal E. Miller and others.
Life a ...
,
Leonard Bloomfield
Leonard Bloomfield (April 1, 1887 – April 18, 1949) was an American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the United States during the 1930s and the 1940s. He is considered to be the father of American distributionalis ...
, and others of the Institute of Human Relations.
In 1941, he joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution. There, from 1941 to 1945, he played an important role in producing the monumental Handbook of South American Indians. Perhaps no other writer contributed as many pages to this work. As the editor, Julian Steward, acknowledges, "The extent of his (Métraux's) contribution is by no means indicated by the large number of articles appearing under his name. With an unsurpassed knowledge of South American ethnology and ever generous of his time, his advice and help to the editor and contributors alike have been a major factor in the successful completion of the work." (Vol. I, p. 9). In addition, Métraux taught briefly at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
(1938), the Escuela Nacional de AntropologÃa,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
(1943), the
Colegio de Mexico (1943), and the Faculdad Latino-Americana de Ciencias Sociales,
Santiago, Chile
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
(1959–60).
UNESCO
In the early spring of 1945, Métraux went to Europe as a member of the
United States Bombing Survey and he saw the physical and moral desolation of Europe. Although he had by then become a citizen of the United States, this experience seems to have reaffirmed, in a way, his traditional ties with Europe. It also strengthened his belief in the necessity for European unity and for the need of a firm basis for international, inter-cultural, and inter-racial understanding. His early view of war devastated Europe was important in his decision in 1946 to take a post on the secretariat of the United Nations. Thus, from 1946 until 1962, he worked for his ideals of international and inter-cultural understanding within the framework of international organization with only occasional excursions into academic life and into anthropological field research. In 1946 and 1947, he was a member of the
Department of Social Affairs of the United Nations, but in 1947 he was assigned to
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
, and finally, in 1950, he became a permanent member of UNESCO's Department of Social Science. As an international civil servant, he served the world and his profession well. He took part in the Hylean Amazon project in 1947–1948, led the UNESCO Marbial Valley (Haiti) anthropological survey from 1948 to 1950 with personnel from the international Labor Office, and studied the internal migrations of the
Aymara and
Quechua Indians in Peru and Bolivia (1954). He edited the series of pamphlets on The Race Question and Modern Thought and The Race Question and Modern Science, published by UNESCO since 1950. He also organized the research that led to a series of volumes on race relations in Brazil, such as "As relações raciais entre negros a brancos em São Paulo," edited by Roger Bastide and Florestan Fernandes (São Paulo, 1955), Race and Class in Rural Brazil, edited by Charles Wagley (UNESCO, Paris, 1952), and others. At UNESCO, he was responsible for the participation of anthropologists in many important projects around the world, and he consistently emphasized the anthropological point of view in all of the many programs with which he was associated. Anthropology lost not only a productive scholar, but an effective translator of anthropological theory and knowledge into action.
Ethnography
Métraux valued field ethnography more than theory. He let the facts speak for themselves, and many of his facts modified anthropological theory. Yet, one felt that he was too restless and too eager to be on his way to produce detailed and lengthy field reports such as those of
Curt Nimuendajú
Curt Unckel Nimuendajú (born Curt Unckel; 18 April 1883 – 10 December 1945) was a German-Brazilian people, Brazilian ethnologist, anthropologist, and writer. His works are fundamental for the understanding of the religion and cosmology of some ...
on the Brazilian
Gê. He was a sensitive field worker with many years of experience, and his articles on the Argentine
Chaco and his book on Haitian Vodun indicate that he gathered careful and objective data in the field. He liked to think of himself as a field ethnologist. Any evening with him led to stories of nights around a fire with Argentine gauchos, his last stay with the semi-pacified
Kayapo
The Kayapo (Portuguese language, Portuguese: Caiapó ) people are an indigenous people in Brazil, living over a vast area across the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, south of the Amazon River and along the Xingu River and its tributaries. This l ...
of
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, his period of residence on Easter Island, a Haitian voodoo ceremony, or a
Candomblé
Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especi ...
ceremony in Bahia which he had attended with his friend
Pierre Verger.
Accomplishments
Métraux published landmark studies of South American Indians including the
Incas
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...
,
Haitian voodoo and the ancient cultures of Easter Island. He participated in the framing of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and later as director of the Dept. of Social Sciences at UNESCO, he presided over a series of studies which resulted in several publications aiming to prove the absence of scientific foundation to theories of racial superiority. The 1951 UNESCO Statement on the Nature of Race and Race Differences enshrined these findings. A dedicated anthropologist and humanitarian, he brought the brilliance of South American Indian cultures to light, solved the mysteries of Easter Island, taught the world about Voodoo, and defined the United Nations' stand against racism. His books include ''Voodoo,'' ''
The History of the Incas'' and ''
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
''.
Alfred Métraux
took his own life by an overdose of
barbiturates
Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as ...
. On 20 April 1963, Alfred Métraux's corpse was discovered near the Chateaux de la Madeleine in the Vallee de Chevreuse about 30 km outside of Paris.
Steven R. Fischer - ''Rongorongo: The Easter Island Script : History, Traditions, Texts''
/ref>
At the time of his death, he was Professor of South American Anthropology at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris.
Personal life
Métraux was married three times. Each of his wives was in a different way a scientific collaborator. His first wife, Eva Spiro Métraux, translated anthropological materials from English to French. His second wife, Rhoda Bubendey Métraux did research with him in Mexico, Argentina, and Haiti and was a well known anthropologist. He also married Fernande Schulmann who accompanied him to Chile, Peru, and Brazil and who planned to work with him in Paraguay.
He was survived also by his brother, Guy Métraux (1919-2000) of Paris, his sister, Vera Conne (1920-2009) of Lausanne, and by two sons: Eric Métraux (1927–92) from his first marriage, and Daniel Alfred Métraux (born 1948), the son of Rhoda Métraux.
References
External links
Alfred Métraux Biography
at the Minnesota State University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metraux, Alfred
Scientists from Lausanne
1902 births
1963 suicides
1963 deaths
Swiss ethnographers
Argentine ethnographers
Swiss anthropologists
Argentine anthropologists
École pratique des hautes études alumni
Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études
École Nationale des Chartes alumni
Swiss people of Georgian descent
Drug-related suicides in France
Brazilianists
20th-century anthropologists
Archaeologists of Easter Island
Argentine people of Swiss descent