Aka Foragers as a Baseline for a Hunter-Gather Model

of Adolescence ���

In the beginning: Konner…��� and The Model of H-G Infancy •  Prolonged physical contact with M & others •  High indulgence •  Nursing 4x/hr throughout waking hours •  Co-sleeping with M & night nursing •  Wean > 2 yr 3-4-yr birth spacing •  Strong separation & stranger protest •  Dense social context •  Individual non-M care << M care •  F care < M care but > than in non-H-Gs •  Transition to multi-aged, mixed-gender child group

Source: Konner, in Hewlett, B. & Lamb, M., eds., Hunter-Gatherer Childhood, 2006.

The rise of mammals--adapting, evolving and surviving •  The Catarrhine Mother-Infant Complex The rise of the mother-infant attachment bond

functioning for; •  Nutrition/homeostasis •  Protection from predators •  Optimal birth spacing (nursing-frequency dependent?) •  Transfer of immunity (proximity-dependent? •  Non-genetic transmission of behavior The rise of affectional systems, cooperative breeding,

fathering •  MotherOffspring •  OffspringMother •  FatherOffspring •  OffspringFather •  Young Young •  Sexual partners Source: Konner, in Hewlett, B. & Lamb, M., eds., Hunter-Gatherer Childhood, 2006.

1)  Does a h/g pattern of care exist in adolescence? And if so,

2) What is the significance? We don’t know, but…

A)  provide insights into adaptive and non-adaptive

responses of adolescents to their environments, B)  predict developmental responses within high risk

environments and, C)  analyze discordant mismatches existing between past

features of individuals and their environments and contemporary settings, thus potentially providing a powerful tool for understanding our world’s adolescents

Aka Foragers as a Baseline: A Model of H-G Adolescence

Compared to agricultural and industrial cultures: – Minimal restrictions of adolescent sexual activity,

(Adolescent premarital sexual freedom) – Continued close physical contact with parents and

others – Minimal, non-obligatory responsibility for sibling’s

care and subsistence contribution – Continued moderate to intensive food and care

provisioning by adults into young adulthood – Autonomy//Self directed social learning – Strong sense of self/identity – Extended exploratory geographic ranging

Minimal restrictions of premarital adolescent sexual activity

Adolescent Aka male, “At a dance, the young people flirt and get together for

sex. A girl can have different boys on the same day and take turns. ”

Tambe, a female of 15 years: “It’s better if your parents like the boy that you like and want sex with, but we do not have to get our parents approval”

“… (Mbendjele) kids do plenty of sexual experimentation in a very free and uninhibited way”. J.Lewis (personal communication 2010)

A.V. Korotayev “Factors of Sexual Freedom Among Foragers in Cross-Cultural Perspective Cross-Cultural Research February 2003 37: 29-61

Minimal restrictions of adolescent sexual activity

•  “By adolescence foragers spent 25% of their time in adult-child proximity groups and 45% of their time in child only proximity groups while in camp--

•  and 60% of day in adult social or work groups and 40% of day in child only social and work groups while outside of camp”

(Neuwelt-Truntzer (1981 in B.S Hewlett 2010 in press) Hewlett BS 1992. The parent-child relationship and social emotional development among Aka pygmies. In: Parent-Child Relations in Diverse

Cultures, JL Roopnarine and B Segal (eds.).��� A.Boyette “Middle childhood among Aka forest Foragers of the Central African Republic: A Comparative perspective” np���

Continued close physical contact with parents and others :PROXIMITY:

Proximity

“Forager children and adolescents never slept alone while farmer children over 7 years old slept alone 30-40% of the time ”

Source and photo’s; B.S Hewlett 2007 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2-7 Alone

2-7 Other Children

2-7 Adults and Others

8-12 Alone

8-12 Other Children

8-12 Adults and Others

13-18 Alone

13-18 Other Children

13-18 Adults and Others

Percentage of Children

NGANDU

AKA

Minimally enforced, non-obligatory, responsibility for sibling care and subsistence activities ���

Subsistence Efforts (time Sibling Care (Increases to 26% in devoted to food getting patrilocal camps) Contribution (%) Age category # ind. Total

Adolescent 9 19

Adult males 14 35

Adult females 17 34 Elders 5 6

Bahuchet (1990) “Food Sharing Among the Pygmies of Central Africa”

Meehan “Multiple Caregiving and its Effects on Maternal Behavior Among the Aka Foragers and Ngandu Farmers of Central African Republic” (2005)

CONTRIBUTION IS NON-OBLIGATORY AKA --“I played so much with my friends in the camp when I was little! I

played and played! I played in the forest…and we would dance the molembo and sing.”

--“When they (adolescents) are asked to get water or find the manioc, they refuse. They would rather do amusing things. They prefer to do what they want to do with their friends. When the parents ask, they do not do these things.”

NGANDU –  “If I was playing the dancing games with my friends, it was fun, but if

my mother asked for help and I refused, my mother would hit me.

–  - Ngandu woman, “You do not work here at the house when I need you and go play with your friends instead, so go away and live somewhere else”.

Aka; married adolescents and the individuals who provisioned them

Aka; Individuals who provisioned

self43%

mother14%

older sis6%

spouse17%

friend9%

others11%

self

mother

older sis

spouse

friend

others

Ngandu adolescents; Individuals who provision them

mother21%

self68%

spouse11%

mother

self

spouse

Continued moderate to intensive food and care provisioning by adults into young adulthood

Extended exploratory geographic ranging

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

youngadol.

older adol.

malesfemales

N-3

Mean distance (km)

N-3 N-15 N16

p<.05

p.<12

“Most exploratory activity…takes place roughly between 10 and 25 years of age” Hewlett, Van de Koppel, Cavalli-Sforza(1982)

Distances in mean distance by age and sex among Aka

Exploratory Ranging

010203040

50607080

visit family forage dance explore

malesfemales

Reason for travel Distance traveled (km)

Source: Hewlett, Van de Koppel, Cavalli-Sforza(1982)

05

1015202530354045

visit family forage dance explore

malefemale

Mating Distances and Exploratory Ranges in Small

Scale Societies

From; MacDonald and Hewlett (1999)”Reproductive Interests and Forager Mobility”

Autonomy//Self directed social learning

From Hewlett and Cavallli-Sforza “Cultural Transmission Among Aka Pygmies” (1986)

Autonomy//Self directed social learning���

Adult direction/regulation of teaching and learning is minimal

Adolescent Males learning: • Other hunting • Maintenance • Infant care • Mating skills

Adolescent Females learning: • Mating skills

Cultural Transmission���At the time of adolescent brain development in

which abstract thought is possible, what is being taught--

among the Mbendjele, Lewis suggests that; “Key areas of cultural knowledge… cosmological,

gender and political ideology, egalitarianism…are transmitted and framed around biological development” (menstruation-- ekila )

Ekila: blood, bodies and egalitarian societies (Lewis 2008)

During Aka Adolescence…

•  Development of coalitional social bonds and networks, initiating or maintaining cooperative relations with others

•  Cultivation of gender roles, reputations, costly signally of phenotypic quality (as ‘good hunters and foragers’, child care providers, ‘hard workers’)

•  Reinforcement of key foundational schema, for example: autonomy

Transitioning from somatic to reproductive effort--a vulnerable

time? |ndividual Life Effort

Somatic Effort Reprodutive Effort

nepotism mating parenting growth development maintenance

Table 8. Anthropometric comparisons by ethnicity(Aka and Ngandu), sex andage(N=79).

Males Females

Aka Ngandu Aka Ngandu n=12 n=9 n=17 n=7 n=13 n =7 n=10 n=6

Age group10-15 16-20 10-15 16-20 10-15 16-20 10-15 16-20

Height (cm)MeanSD

138.09.9

152.37.5

139.17.7

162.35.8

133.37.5

145.54.9

145.66.5

160.74.4

Weight (kg)MeanSD

32.58.4

46.45.7

32.65.3

54.47.2

29.76.2

45.16.0

35.75.5

52.88.1

Skinfolds (mm)TricepsMeanSD

5.61.7

5.21.7

6.41.7

6.01.0

7.31.5

9.72.6

7.91.6

12.73.4

BicepsMeanSD

3.31.9

2.8.70

3.51.2

3.6.70

3.5.70

4.91.2

4.1.91

5.61.5

SubscapularMeanSD

5.81.8

6.31.4

5.0.80

7.61.5

6.61.6

10.31.3

6.51.0

13.73.7

MUAC (cm)MeanSD

19.62.2

24.41.9

19.91.8

26.31.8

19.41.6

23.81.2

21.12.0

25.82.9

BMI (ht/wt2)MeanSD

16.82.1

19.81.7

16.71.4

20.51.9

16.01.9

20.72.1

16.81.8

20.32.9

BF (%)MeanSD

4.95.6

4.31.2

9.67.5

11.24.3

12.34.3

16.56.1

37.36.2

24.38.0

MUAC, mid arm circumference; BMI, body mass index; BF%, body fat percentage, SD, standarddeviation.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING…���

1)  ARE THE AKA REPRESENTATIVE?

2)  HOW DO HUNTER-GATHERERS COMPARE TO OTHER SOCIETIES?

3) IS THERE A SIMILAR PATTERN OF CARE OF ADOLESCENT NON HUMAN PRIMATES?

Still working on it…

HGA Features in 7 H-G Groups Pre-marital sex, minimal restriction of sexual activity

Co-sleeping with family// Close proximity

Minimal, not required, responsibility for childcare and subst

Continued care and provisioning

Extended explaoratory range

!Kung +++ ++

Hadza +++ + Efe ++ ++

Aka +++ +++ ++ ++ Ache +++ ++

Agta +++ +

Inuit +++

Konner (2007)

The evidence of adolescence from phylogeny and cultural history!

Primates

Prosimians (Lemurs, etc.) Simians

New World Monkeys Catarrhines

Old World Monkeys Apes

Humans

Origin

70 mya

45 mya

30 mya

6 mya

Category

Commonalities of Adolescent Patterns in Non-Human Primates •  Life history theory-dependence upon learning about social

and physical environment prior to reproduction (foraging, traveling to suitable foraging areas with conspecifics)

•  Social Relationships-interaction, networks and development of social bonds

•  Infant care/handling-”like adult females, juvenile and adolescent females are attracted to infants…

•  Increased sexual activity with adolescence •  Dispersal-“the best studied aspects of social development

in species that live in family groups concern the maturation and dispersal of adolescents”

From: Walters (1987)Primate Societies “Transition to Adulthood”

What may be the significance?

��� Western culture is very different from hunter-gatherers, and from our close primate relatives, in terms of adolescence. ��� Does it matter?���

We don’t know. ���

But we do know that…

Early infancy, childhood-- and adolescent?-- H-G Models are

potentially…

–  a product of evolution –  a crossroads of attachment, fear, and stress –  a mammalian legacy extended in primates –  a primate legacy extended in hunter-gatherers –  a maturational process reflecting limbic system

development –  a vehicle for creating cultural difference and cultural

continuity

Konner 2008 “Evolving childhoods: Relationships, Emotion, Mind”

Thank You