Diggers and Doggers: Parallel Failures in Economic Acculturation

The histories of economic acculturation of the Western Desert Aborigines of Australia and the Numic-speaking Indians of the Great Basin of North America are compared in a manner similar to that utilized by Murphy and Steward (1955) in their study of Northeastern Algonkians and the Mundurucú of South America. Numerous and specific parallels in economic and social change are noted, leading to the conclusion that both of these desert hunting-and-gathering societies have followed a pattern of economic acculturation characterized by increased dependence on European food and goods rather than by the establishment of a viable relationship to the world economy.