Machine derived contents note: List of tables; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. A framework for the analysis of parent roles; Part I. Parent Roles in Gonja: 2. Kinship fostering; 3. The Kpembe study; Part II. Parent Roles in West Africa: 4. The circulation of women and children in northern Ghana with Jack Goody; 5. Traditional states: responses to hierarchy and differentiation; 6. Contemporary patterns in southern Ghana; 7. Fostering contrasted; 8. Modern apprenticeship: response to differentiation; 9. Creole wardship: response to hierarchy; Part III. Beyond West Africa: 10. The quest for education with Christine Muir Groothues; 11. West African and West Indian immigrant families; 12. Parenthood and social reproduction; Appendix I: data from the Kpembe study; Appendix II: data on the southern Ghana surveys; Notes; Bibliography; Index; Index of authors