Barry S. Hewlett
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Southern Oregon State College

Despite the steady accumulation of systematic studies of infant and child devel-
opment in non-Western populations ( Draper, 1976; Konner, 1977; Leiderman,
Tulkin, & Rosenfeld, 1977; Monroe & Monroe, 1971; Whiting & Whiting,
1975) there are few detailed ethnographic data on the father-infant relationship in
these populations. Given the paucity of systematic research in non-Western
societies on father-infant interactions and on the father's roles in all stages of the
child's development, it is ironic that this variable (i.e., the degree of father vs.
mother involvement with children) should be so consistently invoked as an
explanatory factor in the literature. It is hypothesized to be related, for example,
to universal sexual asymmetry ( Rosaldo & Lamphere, 1974); variations in sexual
dimorphism ( Wilson, 1975); the origins of the human family ( Lancaster, 1975);
contemporary patterns of gender-activity differentiation; ( Brown, 1970; Burton,
Brudner, & White 1977); the association of males with culture and females with
nature ( Ortner, 1974); smooth functioning of the family ( Zelditch, 1955); and
proper moral development ( Hoffman, 1981).

This chapter seeks to partially remedy this shortcoming by examining the
father-infant relationship among an extant population of hunter-gatherers of the
Central African Republic, the Aka pygmies. One feature of the father-infant
relationship will be emphasized--holding (see Fig. 12.1 ). Holding is selected as
a focal topic because it is a direct form of paternal investment, an observable
and, consequently, a measurable behavior essential to the survival of the Aka
infant. Studies of American fathers indicate that the father's interaction while
holding his infant is quite distinctive from the mother's holding of the infant.

Extensive observational research on the American father-infant relationship
has consistently demonstrated that fathers are more likely than mothers to engage

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