Alfred Métraux (5 November 1902 – 12 April 1963) was a Swiss and Argentine anthropologist, ethnologist and human rights leader. 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. He received his secondary and university education in Europe, at the Classical Gymnasium of Lausanne, the École nationale des chartes in Paris, the École nationale des langues Orientales (Diplome, 1925). The École pratique des hautes études (Diplôme, 1927) and the Sorbonne (Docteur ès lettres, 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, 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 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: Calchaquí, Guaraní, Chiriguano, Toba & Wichís, 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, and in 1936 –38, he was a Fellow of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. In 1939, he returned to Argentina and Bolivia