Residence and childcare assistance among the Twe

This document includes three papers from my research on residence among the Twe people of the Lower Kunene Region. The first paper gives an ethnographic account of the Twe. I discuss the Twe's mysterious and potentially unique ethnic history, their complex subsistence, and the ways in which their social organization differs from that of neighboring tribes. The second paper presents a simulation model that shows how we might expect the role of secondary childcare provider to shift from a woman's mother to her older daughters as she moves through her reproductive career. This dynamic might explain why women would want to remain in their natal camp until later in life. This is a common pattern among many traditional populations that is particularly relevant to the study of hunter-gatherers and other groups with limited heritable wealth. The final paper offers an empirical test of the relationship between childcare assistance and residence. Using genealogical and residence history data, I investigate whether women with young dependent children are more likely to live with their mothers. I also test whether women move away from home when they have babysitting daughters as predicted in the preceding simulation model. The findings in the third paper are consistent with both of these expectations.