This project involves the dissertation research of a student of cultural anthropology from the University of California-Los Angeles. The project involves studying the paternal behavior of men in a small-scale foraging society in Tanzania. The hypotheses to be tested involve the consequences of different levels of paternal care for the men involved. The student will assess the men's payoffs from the provision of such care, in terms of improved status of their wife and children, and in terms of access to other social benefits. The differences in care provision to own children and step-children will be assessed, through time allocation measures, intensive interviews, and observations of foraging work and income. This research is important because the opportunity to study human society at this socio-cultural level is fast disappearing, as forager societies disappear. The expertise that this training will provide about this sort of society, about the general region, and about the specific theoretical issues of human paternity, child-care and its consequences, will represent a valuable benefit for the country.
