This week we examine a brief chapter from a study on the Aka people of the Central African Republic. Pygmy
is a pejorative word to describe people of the forest that are often referred to as Batwa. Hewlitt discussed in the
study that some skills are passed down by mothers (gathering and infant care) and some by fathers (hunting
and dancing), but that many others are passed down equally by mothers and fathers (food preparation, housebuilding, courtship, relationships with in-laws, healing, etc.). In terms of education, mothers tended to be more
dominant in teaching children when they were younger, with fathers becoming more central as children
became older.
Kindezi: The Kongo Art of Babysitting discusses the role and the construction of the art of caregiving of the
Bakongo people, found in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo.
After reading and annotating both of these texts, discuss, in detail, care-giving in these Central African
societies. Bold the titles of the texts when you refer to them. You will have more information to work with from
the Kindezi text. Were children highly-valued in African societies?
Sample Solution