Cultures of Multiple Fathers

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The study goes well beyond presenting the fact of belief in partible paternity, placing it in an extensive matrix of kinship, marriage, and associated features of social life. Each author discusses a particular society's beliefs about such related issues as conception and fetal development, domestic group composition and kin terminology, determining which males supply and distribute fish and game to the group, and the fate of children whose fathers die or depart.

Stephen Beckerman is associate professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University.
Paul Valentine is senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of East London, U.K.