Interpreters of developmental change among tribal societies frequently portray the agents of Western institutions as imposing innovations upon a passive, recipient culture. This study of programs of developmental change among the Papago Indians places emphasis upon the systematic nature of the Indian response which is presented as an adaptive strategy well suited to the rigors of the Sonoran Desert.
The Indians are described as employing a centrifugal strategy of reliance upon resources imported from friendly communities external to the Papago homeland. Because of minimal reliance upon other Papago villages or upon the tribal administration developed under the Indian Reorganization Act, this strategy may be designated as restricted interdependence.
Efforts at developmental change initiated by the government among the Papago tribe have concentrated upon a centripetal strategy emphasizing reliance upon resources of the Papago Indian Reservation. A feature of this strategy has been the effort to maximize, rather than restrict, interdependence among the units of Papago society. With data from the Papago population register, the possibility that modern communities may have accepted the centripetal strategy of developmental change while conservative villages pursue the traditional centrifugal strategy of restricted interdependence is examined and rejected.