Branislava Sušnik

Branislava Sušnik (28 March 1920, in Medvode, Slovenia – 28 April 1996, in Asunción, Paraguay) was a Slovenian-Paraguayan anthropologist.

Life and education Branislava Sušnik was born on 28 March 1920 in Medvode, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, currently in Slovenia to the lawyer Jože Sušnik and Karolina née Prijatelj. She attended primary school and classical grammar school in Ljubljana, and in 1937 entered Ljubljana University where she studied prehistory and history at the Faculty of Arts. In 1942, Sušnik completed her doctoral studies in ethnohistory and Ural-Altaic linguistics with the German anthropologist prof. Wilhelm Schmidt in Vienna (which was then part of Germany) and began studying the cultures and languages of Asia Minor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

After completing her studies in Rome, Sušnik returned to Ljubljana. In Argentina she began field research work at Laishi Mission in Los Tobas de Formosa, writing her first linguistic work in America.

On 1 March 1951, Sušnik at the invitation of the founder of the Ethnographic Museum, Andrés Barbero, she went to Asunción, Paraguay. After his death in 1952, she took over the management of the museum and ran it until her death in 1996.

In 1992, Sušnik received the highest Paraguayan awards for scientific achievements. Also she was posthumously awarded the title of Gran Official of Paraguay for her creative contributions to the formation of the Paraguayan identity. In 2009, a street in Asunción was named after her. 1968 – Chiriguanos 1969 - Chamacocos 1975 - Dispersión Tupí-Guarani prehistórica: ensayo analitico 1977 - Lengua-maskoy, su hablar, su pensar, su vivencia 1978 - Los aborígenes del Paraguay 1986 - Artesanía indigena: ensayo analítico 1990 - Una visión socio-antropológica del Paraguay del siglo XVIII 1990 - Guerra, transito, subsistencia: ámbito americano 1995 - Los indios del Paraguay