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Early life. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Métraux spent much of his childhood in Argentina where his father was a well-known surgeon resident in Mendoza. His mother was a Georgian from Tbilisi.
Alfred Métraux (born Nov. 5, 1902, Lausanne, Switz.—died April 12, 1963, Paris, Fr.) was a Swiss anthropologist noted for his pioneering contributions to South American ethnohistory and the examination of African culture in Haiti. Métraux studied with several prominent European anthropologists.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Alfred Métraux (1902-1963) was a pioneer in South American ethnohistory, a student of African culture in the New World, and a specialist in the field of race relations. He was also instrumental in promoting the role of the social sciences in the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
Following the colonial expansion of France, Métraux participated in establishing ethnographic methods for codifying social life, material culture, and artistic forms. Through his own transatlantic voyages and personal exchanges, Métraux left personal documents in different parts of the world.
- Rodrigo Bulamah
- 2017
On 18 May 1945 the Swiss-born ethnographer Alfred Métraux (1902–1964) wrote the following letter to his wife, Rhoda, from Tübingen, Germany: My darling, This afternoon I have been deeply shaken by the sight of a group of Jewish girls who were coming back from one of the death factories — Auschwitz.
- Edgardo C. Krebs
- 2016
Alfred Métraux. As published in the Foundation’s Report for 1937–38: M É TRAUX, ALFRED: Appointed for anthropological researches among the Indians of the Gran Chaco; tenure, twelve months from December 1, 1938. Born November 5, 1902, in Switzerland.
Alfred Métraux was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1902, but he grew up in the Andean province of Mendoza, Argentina, where his father was an expatriate medical doctor and surgeon of great prestige.
