Multiple Caretaking of Efe (Pygmy) Infants

In: American anthropologist: AA, Band 89, Heft 1, S. 96-106

Abstract

Two models of the human infant's caretaking requirements—the continuous care and contact model and the caretaker‐child strategy model—are discussed in terms of the caretaking practices observed among the Efe (Pygmies) of northeastern Zaire. The Efe1 engage in a system of multiple care which begins at birth and continues through at least the first 18 weeks of life. An important aspect of this care includes being suckled by lactating and nonlactating women. The data suggest that the continuous care and contact model is too rigid a formulation of the infant's caretaking environment, and lend support to the strategic model. Efe caretaking practices are discussed in terms of the cultural, ecological, and physiological constraints acting on these people.