Child Care and Culture
Lessons from Africa

Describes parenthood and infant care in a rural Kenyan community.

Robert A. Levine (Author), Sarah Levine (Author), Suzanne Dixon (Author), Amy Richman (Author), P. Herbert Leiderman (Author), Constance H. Keefer (Author), T. Berry Brazelton (Author)

9780521575461, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 September 1996

380 pages, 45 b/w illus. 1 map
23.1 x 15.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.529 kg

"Child Care and Culture provides an outsatnding model for how to bring population-level cultural or ethnic variation into the study of parenting and human development..." Thomas S. Weisner, Contemporary Psychology

Child Care and Culture examines parenthood, infancy, and early childhood in an African community, revealing patterns unanticipated by current theories of child development and raising provocative questions about 'normal' child care in the human species. Comparing the Gusii people of Kenya, whose practices were intensively observed from the combined perspectives of social anthropology, pediatrics, and developmental psychology, with the American white middle class, the authors show how divergent cultural priorities create differing conditions for early childhood development.

Foreword
List of tables and figures
Preface
Part I. African Infancy: Frameworks For Understanding: 1. The comparative study of child care
2. Infant care in subsaharan Africa
Part II. Parenthood Among The Gusii of Kenya: 3. Gusii culture: A person-centered perspective
4. Gusii fertility, marriage, and family
5. Pregnancy and birth: Part III. Infant Care and Development in a Gusii Community: 6. Infant care: Cultural norms and interpersonal environment
7. Survival and health: The priorities of parents
8. Communication and social learning during infancy
9. Variations in infant interaction: Illustrative cases: Part IV. Interpretations: 10. Early child development in an African context: Comparative lessons
Appendices
References.

Subject Areas: Child & developmental psychology [JMC]