The continuing relevance of Mary Ainsworth’s classic, Infancy in Uganda (1967/2026)

This article introduces the reissue of Mary Ainsworth’s (1967/2026) Infancy in Uganda and provides context for reading the book today. We reflect on the study’s cultural and intellectual background and the insightfulness of Ainsworth’s detailed case studies of infants and their families. We then focus on what she identified as the book’s chief contribution: its account of attachment development. Reading Infancy in Uganda in light of subsequent developments in attachment theory and research, we see early formulations of questions that continue to shape the field. Infancy in Uganda presents infant behavior as organized within relational sequences and in relation to caregiving, exploration, and cultural context. Security also begins to emerge as distinct from related ideas such as emotional comfort and bond strength. This landmark study provided important empirical foundations for Bowlby’s emerging attachment theory, as well as insights into the attachment–exploration balance and individual differences in early attachment relationships.