Buell Halvor Quain (May 31, 1912 – August 2, 1939) was an American

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 ...

who, after graduating from

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

and studying as a graduate student at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, worked with native peoples in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and

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 ...

. He published a total of four books, three of them posthumously. In 1938, Quain travelled to Brazil to work with the Kraho people of the Brazilian rainforest, where he also spent time in the Trumai village.

Death

On August 2, 1939, at the age of 27, Buell Quain committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the Brazilian rainforest. The reason for the suicide is somewhat unclear - some reports suggested that he had written about having caught an incurable disease, but other reasons were mooted.

Other

The mystery surrounding his death by suicide was the subject of

ian author

Bernardo Carvalho Bernardo Carvalho (born 1960 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian author and journalist. He was the editor of “ Folhetim,” a collection of essays, and is a Paris and New York correspondent for Folha de S.Paulo. His first two novels were edited i ...

's 2002 novel ''Nove Noites''.

Bibliography

*''The Iroquois'' - 1937 *''The Flight of the Chiefs'' - 1942 *''The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil'' - 1955 (with Robert Francis Murphy) *''Fijian Village'' - 1970

References

External links

Minnesota State University
1912 births 1939 suicides 1939 deaths American people of Swedish descent Columbia University alumni American ethnologists Suicides by hanging in Brazil Scientists from North Dakota 20th-century American anthropologists {{US-academic-scientist-stub