Rhoda Métraux

Rhoda Bubendy Métraux (18 October 1914, New York City – 26 November 2003, Barton, Vermont) was a prominent anthropologist in the area of cross-cultural studies. She collaborated with Alfred Métraux on mutual studies of Haitian voodoo. She also studied the Iatmul people of the middle Sepik River in Papua New Guinea and made three fieldwork trips to Tambunum village of 6-7 months each in 1967-1968, 1971, and 1972-1973 that focused on music. During one of her studies, Métraux administered the Lowenfeld Mosaic Test in Tambunum, developed by a Margaret Lowenfeld. Additionally, Métraux did fieldwork in Mexico, Argentina, and Montserrat in the West Indies and enrolled at Yale University to study for her doctorate under the tutelage of Bronisław Malinowski. During World War II, Métraux headed the section on German morale for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

Métraux was also an important professional and personal partner of Margaret Mead (1901–1978). Together with Mead, she wrote several books and many articles on major issues from the 1950s to the late 1970s. As a contributing editor to ''Redbook'' magazine for well over a decade, both of them wrote many articles on contemporary issues, which largely appeared under Mead's name, that later formed the basis of a number of books, including ''A Way of Seeing''. Mead and Métraux were a close-knit professional team although Mead was intellectual force and gained the most public renown. Métraux tended to serve as the editor of many of Mead's publications. Both had been married, widowed at a young age and had a child. "Their status as mothers and ex-wives offered them a gentile facade behind which to conceal what may also have been a sexual relationship."

They shared a house in Greenwich Village in New York City from 1955 to 1966 and an apartment on Central Park West from 1966 until Mead's death in 1978.

Métraux's papers are deposited in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Provided by Wikipedia