French anthropologist Levi-Strauss dies

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 - 04:47 PM

Claude Levi-Strauss, the influential French intellectual widely considered the father of modern anthropology, has died aged 100.

Levi-Strauss was widely regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing new concepts concerning common patterns of behaviour and thought, especially myths, in primitive and modern societies.

During his long career he wrote many literary and anthropological classics, including “Tristes Tropiques” (1955), “The Savage Mind” (1963) and “The Raw and the Cooked” (1964).

The Academie Francaise which announced the death said that it plans a tribute later in the week.