17

On the basis of breakthroughs made in the anthropology of childhood and in childhood studies, and of the achievements of general anthropology, this article lays the foundations for a possible anthropology of infancy and of babies, which is still in its early stages. This project relies on the articulation of three inseparable aspects: the social and symbolic construction of infancy, the agency of the baby, and the conception of the baby as a subject. It also requires an exploration of the conditions that make an anthropological approach based on participant observation of babies possible. Participant observation requires us to take into account what I call “the local cultures of agency” and to determine the necessity of a specific methodology for babies.