Claude Lévi-Strauss is a French anthropologist and ethnologist who was one of the founding fathers of structuralism, which changed the approaches of anthropology. Lévi-Strauss was born in Brussels, Belgium, but grew up in Paris in a house filled with books. His initial education in philosophy and Marxist ideas at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and the Sorbonne, studying law and philosophy, gave him a critical outlook on culture and society. By the early 1930s, he had moved toward sociological and anthropological interests; he took up a teaching post at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1935.

Lévi-Strauss lived in Brazil as part of his anthropological work and studied many tribes of Indians. Two of the most significant tribes are the Nambicuara and the Tupi-Kawahib tribes of the Amazon. His work formed the base of his structuralist paradigm, focusing on establishing the unconscious cultural patterns within societies, especially regarding kinship, myths, and rituals. His return to France in the late 1940s led to his magnum opus, The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949), where Lévi-Strauss applied structural linguistics to anthropology and changed the concept of kinship and social organization. This approach continued in his later work, establishing him as a key structuralist.

Lévi-Strauss's best-known book, published in 1955, was Tristes Tropiques. It is a personal record of his travels and ethnographic studies, sharing philosophical musings on civilization and its effect on indigenous populations. As a structuralist, he expanded his framework from kinship to myth and language, discussed in his Mythologiques series, which includes four volumes published between 1964 and 1971. During his long career, Lévi-Strauss held several distinguished university positions, including serving as the chair at the Collège de France and entering the Académie française in 1973. His influence extended beyond anthropology to philosophy, sociology, and linguistics, making him one of the significant intellectual personalities of the twentieth century. Lévi-Strauss passed away in 2009 at the age of 100, leaving a lasting impact on the humanities and social sciences.