A H Boyette
Biographic Data
| ID | 37921 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A H Boyette |
| GIVEN NAMES | A H |
| FAMILY NAME | Boyette |
| SIGNATURE | BOYETTE A H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0306-6841 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 89 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Women’s self-reported autonomy in household decision-making varies between BaYaka foragers and Bandongo farmers in the Congo Basin
Women’s decision-making power within households is a critical aspect of gender equality, influencing the well-being of household members and family dynamics. This study examines women’s perceived autonomy in household decision-making among BaYaka hunter-gatherers and Bandongo fisher-farmers in a forest village in the Republic of the Congo. We assess autonomy across various domains, including daily activities, food sharing, cash economy, long-term…
Autonomy and risk perception in Congo Basin developmental systems
BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher‐farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo
A substantial body of anthropological research has investigated how subsistence communities engage with market‐based economies. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by examining adolescent orientations towards intensifying market integration in the Congo Basin. Adolescence is characterized by enhanced capacities for abstract reasoning, creative thought, risk‐taking, and exploration. Consequently, this life stage may represent a sensi…
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge
Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village
Understanding the dynamics of inter-group cooperation in human adaptation has been the subject of recent empirical and theoretical studies in evolutionary anthropology, beginning to fill gaps in our knowledge of how interactions across political, economic and social domains can – and often do – lead to stable, large-scale cooperation. Here we investigate dyadic intergroup cooperation in shotgun hunting in the Republic of the Congo. In the Congo B…
Learning to walk in the forest
This paper examines how BaYaka children from the Congo Basin learn to "walk in the forest" (botamboli na ndima). Specifically, after placing forest walking within historical and ethnographic context, we consider how this practice contributes to BaYaka motor, cognitive, and social development, and thus, to the acquisition of culture. To do so, we draw from our own observations and those of other researchers working throughout the region. We outlin…
Mobility, site maintenance and archaeological formation processes: An ethnoarchaeological perspective
Mobility is considered to play an important role in the way people use their habitual space. Highly mobile societies present a particular challenge to archaeologists as a direct relation is assumed between the duration of occupation and the intensity of its archaeological signature. Here, we present a cross-cultural, ethnoarchaeological study carried out among three contemporary societies that, while showing different patterns of mobility, all li…
Associations between men's reputations for fathering and their reproductive success among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin
Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo
Whereas many evolutionary models emphasize within-group cooperation or between-group competition in explaining human large-scale cooperation, recent work highlights a critical role for intergroup cooperation in human adaptation. Here we investigate intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting in northern Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin broadly, forest foragers maintain relationships with neighboring farmers based on systems o…
Stepfamilies and cultural transmission dynamics in Congo Basin hunter-gatherers
Generally high rates of adult mortality coupled with cultural approval of divorce/remarriage mean that alternatives to the 'nuclear model' of the family can be common in contemporary hunter-gatherer communities. While many studies of hunter-gatherer societies have emphasised the flexible, cooperative nature of childcare, research has not specifically considered how step-parents navigate their unique roles in the lives of their own or their partne…
Stepfamilies, adoption and other forms of the family in hunter-gatherers
The original aim of this Hunter-Gatherer Research special issue was to examine what was known about stepfamilies in hunter-gatherer cultures.While stepfamilies Factors that can contribute to hunter-gatherer children living with non-genetic relatives DivorceTwo demographic factors can contribute substantially to a high frequency of step and adoptive families are high adult mortality and high divorce rates.Marlowe (2010:178) indicates that 'perhaps…
Links between household and family social dynamics with sleep profiles among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin
Opportunities for Interaction: Natural Observations of Children’s Social Behavior in Five Societies
Demonstrating the Utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modeling Using Focal Follow Data from Congolese BaYaka Children and Adolescents Engaging in Work and Play
Temporal aspects of child and adolescent time allocation in diverse cultural settings have been difficult to model using conventional statistical techniques. A new statistical approach, Egocentric Relational Event Modelling (EREM), allows for the simultaneous modelling of activity frequency, duration, and sequencing. Here, EREM is applied to a focal follow dataset of Congolese BaYaka forager child and adolescent play and work activities. Results …
Who teaches children to forage? Exploring the primacy of child-to-child teaching among Hadza and BaYaka Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania and Congo
Gender-Typed and Gender-Segregated Play Among Tanzanian Hadza and Congolese BaYaka Hunter-Gatherer Children and Adolescents
Few data exist on gender-typed and gender-segregated play in hunter-gatherer societies, despite their unique demographic and cultural features which may influence children’s gendered play. Using naturalistic observations of Hadza (N = 46, 41% female) and BaYaka (N = 65, 48% female) hunter-gatherer 3- to 18-year-olds from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo, we showed that access to playmates was negatively associated with playing in mixed-gender g…
Fatherhood, egalitarianism, and child health in two small‐scale societies in the Republic of the Congo
OBJECTIVES: The study goals were to (a) characterize the cultural model of fatherhood among the BaYaka, a community of egalitarian foragers in the Republic of the Congo; (b) test if BaYaka fathers' quality in relation to the cultural model predicts their children's energetic status; and (c) compare the variance in BaYaka children's energetic status to that of children of neighboring Bondongo fisher-farmers, among whom there is less cooperative ca…
Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin
OBJECTIVES: The pooling of energetic resources and food sharing have been widely documented among hunter-gatherer societies. Much less is known about how the energetic costs of daily activities are distributed across individuals in such groups, including between women and men. Moreover, the metabolic physiological correlates of those activities and costs are relatively understudied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we tracked physical activity, energ…
Broadening Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Paternal Care and Fathers' Effects on Children
Unlike most mammals, human fathers cooperate with mothers to care for young to an extraordinary degree. Human paternal care likely evolved alongside our unique life history strategy of raising slow-developing, energetically costly children, often in rapid succession. Adaptive frameworks generally assume that paternal provisioning played a critical role in this pattern's emergence. We draw on nonhuman primate data to propose that nonprovisioning f…
Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka
Across diverse societies, task assignment is a socialization practice that gradually builds children's instrumental skills and integrates them into the flow of daily activities in their community. However, psychosocial tensions can arise when cooperation is demanded from children. Through their compliance or noncompliance, they learn cultural norms and values related to autonomy and obligations to others. Here, we investigate task assignment amon…
Inter- and intra-cultural variation in learning-through-participation among Hadza and BaYaka forager children and adolescents from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo
We examined cross-cultural variation in children’s learning-through-participation in economic work in two forager societies; the Hadza of Tanzania and the BaYaka of the Republic of Congo. We used observational data from 46 Hadza (41% female) and 65 BaYaka (48% female) children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 18; interview data from 73 Hadza (49% female) and 52 BaYaka (56% female) adults; and ethnographic observations from both populatio…
Dimensions of Fatherhood in a Congo Basin Village: A Multimethod Analysis of Intracultural Variation in Men’s Parenting and Its Relevance for Child Health
Fathers' direct care (e.g., carrying, sensitive caregiving, cultural transmission) can potentially improve children's health, well-being, and social development. However, between- and within-culture variation in fathers' roles in these domains remains understudied, particularly in work on small-scale societies, and we know relatively little about how these roles intersect with indirect paternal care (e.g., provisioning, resource defense) to shape…
Evidence for the Adaptive Learning Function of Work and Work-Themed Play among Aka Forager and Ngandu Farmer Children from the Congo Basin
Work-themed play may allow children to learn complex skills, and ethno-typical and gender-typical behaviors. Thus, play may have made important contributions to the evolution of childhood through the development of embodied capital. Using data from Aka foragers and Ngandu farmer children from the Central African Republic, we ask whether children perform ethno- and gender-typical play and work activities, and whether play prepares children for com…
Autonomy, cognitive development, and the socialisation of cooperation in foragers: Aka children’s views of sharing and caring
It is well established that respect for autonomy and sharing are two core values that, along with egalitarianism have great influence over thought and action in mobile foraging society. However, resolving the tension between these values is also key to forager social life, which requires both a lack of dependence on specific others and consistent and significant generosity to maintain social harmony. Children’s emerging conceptions of these value…
Technical intelligence and culture: Nut cracking in humans and chimpanzees
OBJECTIVES: According to the technical intelligence hypothesis, humans are superior to all other animal species in understanding and using tools. However, the vast majority of comparative studies between humans and chimpanzees, both proficient tool users, have not controlled for the effects of age, prior knowledge, past experience, rearing conditions, or differences in experimental procedures. We tested whether humans are superior to chimpanzees …
Autonomy, Equality, and Teaching among Aka Foragers and Ngandu Farmers of the Congo Basin
Broadening Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Paternal Care and Fathers' Effects on Children
Unlike most mammals, human fathers cooperate with mothers to care for young to an extraordinary degree. Human paternal care likely evolved alongside our unique life history strategy of raising slow-developing, energetically costly children, often in rapid succession. Adaptive frameworks generally assume that paternal provisioning played a critical role in this pattern's emergence. We draw on nonhuman primate data to propose that nonprovisioning f…
Dimensions of Fatherhood in a Congo Basin Village: A Multimethod Analysis of Intracultural Variation in Men’s Parenting and Its Relevance for Child Health
Fathers' direct care (e.g., carrying, sensitive caregiving, cultural transmission) can potentially improve children's health, well-being, and social development. However, between- and within-culture variation in fathers' roles in these domains remains understudied, particularly in work on small-scale societies, and we know relatively little about how these roles intersect with indirect paternal care (e.g., provisioning, resource defense) to shape…
Evidence for the Adaptive Learning Function of Work and Work-Themed Play among Aka Forager and Ngandu Farmer Children from the Congo Basin
Work-themed play may allow children to learn complex skills, and ethno-typical and gender-typical behaviors. Thus, play may have made important contributions to the evolution of childhood through the development of embodied capital. Using data from Aka foragers and Ngandu farmer children from the Central African Republic, we ask whether children perform ethno- and gender-typical play and work activities, and whether play prepares children for com…
Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka
Across diverse societies, task assignment is a socialization practice that gradually builds children's instrumental skills and integrates them into the flow of daily activities in their community. However, psychosocial tensions can arise when cooperation is demanded from children. Through their compliance or noncompliance, they learn cultural norms and values related to autonomy and obligations to others. Here, we investigate task assignment amon…
Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin
OBJECTIVES: The pooling of energetic resources and food sharing have been widely documented among hunter-gatherer societies. Much less is known about how the energetic costs of daily activities are distributed across individuals in such groups, including between women and men. Moreover, the metabolic physiological correlates of those activities and costs are relatively understudied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we tracked physical activity, energ…
Opportunities for Interaction: Natural Observations of Children’s Social Behavior in Five Societies
Technical intelligence and culture: Nut cracking in humans and chimpanzees
OBJECTIVES: According to the technical intelligence hypothesis, humans are superior to all other animal species in understanding and using tools. However, the vast majority of comparative studies between humans and chimpanzees, both proficient tool users, have not controlled for the effects of age, prior knowledge, past experience, rearing conditions, or differences in experimental procedures. We tested whether humans are superior to chimpanzees …
Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo
Whereas many evolutionary models emphasize within-group cooperation or between-group competition in explaining human large-scale cooperation, recent work highlights a critical role for intergroup cooperation in human adaptation. Here we investigate intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting in northern Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin broadly, forest foragers maintain relationships with neighboring farmers based on systems o…
Stepfamilies and cultural transmission dynamics in Congo Basin hunter-gatherers
Generally high rates of adult mortality coupled with cultural approval of divorce/remarriage mean that alternatives to the 'nuclear model' of the family can be common in contemporary hunter-gatherer communities. While many studies of hunter-gatherer societies have emphasised the flexible, cooperative nature of childcare, research has not specifically considered how step-parents navigate their unique roles in the lives of their own or their partne…
Links between household and family social dynamics with sleep profiles among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin
Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village
Understanding the dynamics of inter-group cooperation in human adaptation has been the subject of recent empirical and theoretical studies in evolutionary anthropology, beginning to fill gaps in our knowledge of how interactions across political, economic and social domains can – and often do – lead to stable, large-scale cooperation. Here we investigate dyadic intergroup cooperation in shotgun hunting in the Republic of the Congo. In the Congo B…
Learning to walk in the forest
This paper examines how BaYaka children from the Congo Basin learn to "walk in the forest" (botamboli na ndima). Specifically, after placing forest walking within historical and ethnographic context, we consider how this practice contributes to BaYaka motor, cognitive, and social development, and thus, to the acquisition of culture. To do so, we draw from our own observations and those of other researchers working throughout the region. We outlin…
Mobility, site maintenance and archaeological formation processes: An ethnoarchaeological perspective
Mobility is considered to play an important role in the way people use their habitual space. Highly mobile societies present a particular challenge to archaeologists as a direct relation is assumed between the duration of occupation and the intensity of its archaeological signature. Here, we present a cross-cultural, ethnoarchaeological study carried out among three contemporary societies that, while showing different patterns of mobility, all li…
Stepfamilies, adoption and other forms of the family in hunter-gatherers
The original aim of this Hunter-Gatherer Research special issue was to examine what was known about stepfamilies in hunter-gatherer cultures.While stepfamilies Factors that can contribute to hunter-gatherer children living with non-genetic relatives DivorceTwo demographic factors can contribute substantially to a high frequency of step and adoptive families are high adult mortality and high divorce rates.Marlowe (2010:178) indicates that 'perhaps…
Social Learning Among Congo Basin Hunter–Gatherers
This chapter explores childhood social learning among Aka and Bofi hunter–gatherers in Central Africa. Existing literature suggests that hunter– gatherer social learning is primarily vertical (parent-to-child) and that teaching is rare. We use behavioural observations, open-ended and semi-structured interviews, and informal and anecdotal observations to examine the modes (e.g. vertical versus horizontal/oblique) and processes (e.g. teaching versu…
Anointing variation across wild capuchin populations: A review of material preferences, bout frequency and anointing sociality in Cebus and Sapajus
The frequency of anointing bouts and the materials used for self‐ and social anointing vary across capuchin species in captivity, but there is little published data on capuchin anointing in the wild. Here we present previously unpublished data on anointing behaviors from capuchin monkey populations at ten different field sites and incorporate these data into a review of the anointing literature for captive and wild capuchins. Using a comparative …
Autonomy, cognitive development, and the socialisation of cooperation in foragers: Aka children’s views of sharing and caring
It is well established that respect for autonomy and sharing are two core values that, along with egalitarianism have great influence over thought and action in mobile foraging society. However, resolving the tension between these values is also key to forager social life, which requires both a lack of dependence on specific others and consistent and significant generosity to maintain social harmony. Children’s emerging conceptions of these value…
Technical intelligence and culture: Nut cracking in humans and chimpanzees
OBJECTIVES: According to the technical intelligence hypothesis, humans are superior to all other animal species in understanding and using tools. However, the vast majority of comparative studies between humans and chimpanzees, both proficient tool users, have not controlled for the effects of age, prior knowledge, past experience, rearing conditions, or differences in experimental procedures. We tested whether humans are superior to chimpanzees …
Autonomy, Equality, and Teaching among Aka Foragers and Ngandu Farmers of the Congo Basin
Dimensions of Fatherhood in a Congo Basin Village: A Multimethod Analysis of Intracultural Variation in Men’s Parenting and Its Relevance for Child Health
Fathers' direct care (e.g., carrying, sensitive caregiving, cultural transmission) can potentially improve children's health, well-being, and social development. However, between- and within-culture variation in fathers' roles in these domains remains understudied, particularly in work on small-scale societies, and we know relatively little about how these roles intersect with indirect paternal care (e.g., provisioning, resource defense) to shape…
Evidence for the Adaptive Learning Function of Work and Work-Themed Play among Aka Forager and Ngandu Farmer Children from the Congo Basin
Work-themed play may allow children to learn complex skills, and ethno-typical and gender-typical behaviors. Thus, play may have made important contributions to the evolution of childhood through the development of embodied capital. Using data from Aka foragers and Ngandu farmer children from the Central African Republic, we ask whether children perform ethno- and gender-typical play and work activities, and whether play prepares children for com…
Inter- and intra-cultural variation in learning-through-participation among Hadza and BaYaka forager children and adolescents from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo
We examined cross-cultural variation in children’s learning-through-participation in economic work in two forager societies; the Hadza of Tanzania and the BaYaka of the Republic of Congo. We used observational data from 46 Hadza (41% female) and 65 BaYaka (48% female) children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 18; interview data from 73 Hadza (49% female) and 52 BaYaka (56% female) adults; and ethnographic observations from both populatio…
Who teaches children to forage? Exploring the primacy of child-to-child teaching among Hadza and BaYaka Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania and Congo
Gender-Typed and Gender-Segregated Play Among Tanzanian Hadza and Congolese BaYaka Hunter-Gatherer Children and Adolescents
Few data exist on gender-typed and gender-segregated play in hunter-gatherer societies, despite their unique demographic and cultural features which may influence children’s gendered play. Using naturalistic observations of Hadza (N = 46, 41% female) and BaYaka (N = 65, 48% female) hunter-gatherer 3- to 18-year-olds from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo, we showed that access to playmates was negatively associated with playing in mixed-gender g…
Fatherhood, egalitarianism, and child health in two small‐scale societies in the Republic of the Congo
OBJECTIVES: The study goals were to (a) characterize the cultural model of fatherhood among the BaYaka, a community of egalitarian foragers in the Republic of the Congo; (b) test if BaYaka fathers' quality in relation to the cultural model predicts their children's energetic status; and (c) compare the variance in BaYaka children's energetic status to that of children of neighboring Bondongo fisher-farmers, among whom there is less cooperative ca…
Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin
OBJECTIVES: The pooling of energetic resources and food sharing have been widely documented among hunter-gatherer societies. Much less is known about how the energetic costs of daily activities are distributed across individuals in such groups, including between women and men. Moreover, the metabolic physiological correlates of those activities and costs are relatively understudied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we tracked physical activity, energ…
Broadening Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Paternal Care and Fathers' Effects on Children
Unlike most mammals, human fathers cooperate with mothers to care for young to an extraordinary degree. Human paternal care likely evolved alongside our unique life history strategy of raising slow-developing, energetically costly children, often in rapid succession. Adaptive frameworks generally assume that paternal provisioning played a critical role in this pattern's emergence. We draw on nonhuman primate data to propose that nonprovisioning f…
Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka
Across diverse societies, task assignment is a socialization practice that gradually builds children's instrumental skills and integrates them into the flow of daily activities in their community. However, psychosocial tensions can arise when cooperation is demanded from children. Through their compliance or noncompliance, they learn cultural norms and values related to autonomy and obligations to others. Here, we investigate task assignment amon…
Opportunities for Interaction: Natural Observations of Children’s Social Behavior in Five Societies
Demonstrating the Utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modeling Using Focal Follow Data from Congolese BaYaka Children and Adolescents Engaging in Work and Play
Temporal aspects of child and adolescent time allocation in diverse cultural settings have been difficult to model using conventional statistical techniques. A new statistical approach, Egocentric Relational Event Modelling (EREM), allows for the simultaneous modelling of activity frequency, duration, and sequencing. Here, EREM is applied to a focal follow dataset of Congolese BaYaka forager child and adolescent play and work activities. Results …
Links between household and family social dynamics with sleep profiles among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin
Associations between men's reputations for fathering and their reproductive success among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin
Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo
Whereas many evolutionary models emphasize within-group cooperation or between-group competition in explaining human large-scale cooperation, recent work highlights a critical role for intergroup cooperation in human adaptation. Here we investigate intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting in northern Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin broadly, forest foragers maintain relationships with neighboring farmers based on systems o…
Stepfamilies and cultural transmission dynamics in Congo Basin hunter-gatherers
Generally high rates of adult mortality coupled with cultural approval of divorce/remarriage mean that alternatives to the 'nuclear model' of the family can be common in contemporary hunter-gatherer communities. While many studies of hunter-gatherer societies have emphasised the flexible, cooperative nature of childcare, research has not specifically considered how step-parents navigate their unique roles in the lives of their own or their partne…
Stepfamilies, adoption and other forms of the family in hunter-gatherers
The original aim of this Hunter-Gatherer Research special issue was to examine what was known about stepfamilies in hunter-gatherer cultures.While stepfamilies Factors that can contribute to hunter-gatherer children living with non-genetic relatives DivorceTwo demographic factors can contribute substantially to a high frequency of step and adoptive families are high adult mortality and high divorce rates.Marlowe (2010:178) indicates that 'perhaps…
Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village
Understanding the dynamics of inter-group cooperation in human adaptation has been the subject of recent empirical and theoretical studies in evolutionary anthropology, beginning to fill gaps in our knowledge of how interactions across political, economic and social domains can – and often do – lead to stable, large-scale cooperation. Here we investigate dyadic intergroup cooperation in shotgun hunting in the Republic of the Congo. In the Congo B…
Learning to walk in the forest
This paper examines how BaYaka children from the Congo Basin learn to "walk in the forest" (botamboli na ndima). Specifically, after placing forest walking within historical and ethnographic context, we consider how this practice contributes to BaYaka motor, cognitive, and social development, and thus, to the acquisition of culture. To do so, we draw from our own observations and those of other researchers working throughout the region. We outlin…
Mobility, site maintenance and archaeological formation processes: An ethnoarchaeological perspective
Mobility is considered to play an important role in the way people use their habitual space. Highly mobile societies present a particular challenge to archaeologists as a direct relation is assumed between the duration of occupation and the intensity of its archaeological signature. Here, we present a cross-cultural, ethnoarchaeological study carried out among three contemporary societies that, while showing different patterns of mobility, all li…
Women’s self-reported autonomy in household decision-making varies between BaYaka foragers and Bandongo farmers in the Congo Basin
Women’s decision-making power within households is a critical aspect of gender equality, influencing the well-being of household members and family dynamics. This study examines women’s perceived autonomy in household decision-making among BaYaka hunter-gatherers and Bandongo fisher-farmers in a forest village in the Republic of the Congo. We assess autonomy across various domains, including daily activities, food sharing, cash economy, long-term…
Psychology (18 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Developmental psychology (13 works) · Primate Behavior and Ecology (12 works) · Geography (10 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Biology (9 works) · Demography (9 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (8 works) · Ecology (8 works)