The Role of Adult Male Kin in Venezuelan Rainforest Children's Survival

该项目分析了委内瑞拉亚马孙热带森林社会中儿童的生存和健康状况。该项目将分析巴里部落36年来收集的人口普查数据，以评估“二次父亲”对孩子存活的贡献，“二次父亲”是指与孩子的母亲有社会公认的婚外情的男子，他们被认为对胎儿的发育做出了贡献，因此有父母的权利和义务。初步数据显示，一些孩子的次父似乎贡献了足够的资源来改善他们的生活机会，而不是自己兄弟姐妹的生存前景；但数据也显示，一些从不承认次父的女性的孩子的生存前景同样好。该项目将检验这样的假设，即女性的成年兄弟姐妹和父亲可以提供支持，以确保她的孩子的生存。这项研究之所以重要，是因为它纠正了人类进化论中的一个偏见，即强调女性，特别是祖母对儿童生存的重要性。这项研究将评估包括祖父在内的男性在儿童生存中的作用。大多数以政策为导向的关于男性亲属重要性的讨论都集中在父亲身上，并假设每个孩子只有一个父亲得到承认。这一多个父亲被社会认可的民族志案例将展示外祖父和叔叔如何在主要方面取代父亲。这个人种学的例子对于找出男性对儿童的贡献是恒定的和全人的，以及文化上可变的和随环境情况而定的是什么很重要。

This project analyzes child survival and health in a tropical forest society of Amazonian Venezuela. The project will analyze census data collected over 36 years for the Bari tribe to assess the contribution to a child's survival of `secondary fathers` -- men who had societal-recognized extra-marital affairs with the child's mother and who are believed to have contributed to the development of the fetus, and thus have parental rights and obligations. Preliminary data show that some children's secondary fathers seem to contribute enough resources to improve their life chances over the survival prospects for their own siblings; but data also show that some women who never recognize secondary fathers have children whose survival prospects are equally good The project will test the hypothesis that a women's adult siblings and fathers can provide support which ensures her children's survival. This research is important because it corrects a bias in the theory of human evolution which stresses the importance of women, specifically grandmothers, to the survival of children. This research will assess the role of men, including grandfathers, in a child's survival. Most policy oriented discussion of the importance of male kin focuses on the father, and presumes that for each child only one father is recognized. This ethnographic case in which multiple fathers are societal recognized will show how maternal grandfathers and uncles can substitute for fathers in major ways. This ethnographic example is important for sorting out what is constant and panhuman about the male contribution to children, and what is culturally variable and contingent on environmental circumstances.