Reluctant Emigrants: The Role of Migration in Papago Indian Adaptation

Abstract

The results of a sample survey of migration conducted in three districts of the Papago Indian Reservation are reported. The study measured the composition and destination of the migrant stream and estimated rates for the various aspects of the process. It was intended to determine whether migration was essentially (1) temporary and circular, intended to conserve reservation community life through importing external economic resources, or (2) permanent and linear, intended to facilitate participation in the modernization process at the expense of functional impairment to reservation society. The survey established the following: (1) the probability that any individual will become a permanent emigrant is .49, and .31 that he will leave the Papago Indian Reservation; (2) the age of departure for migrants is 19-24; (3) urban destinations are more desirable than rural; (4) females are more apt to migrate than males; (5) equal numbers of migrants leave as individuals and as members of kin groups; (6) economic motives predominate in explaining migratory behavior; (7) permanent emigrants pay frequent visits to relatives remaining in Papago Indian Reservation communities. The first hypothesis is rejected and the second conditionally accepted: migration is permanent and linear, and functional impairment of reservation communities will eventually occur. For the next several decades, however, the residual growth rate after migration remains at 1.4% per year and will be sufficient to sustain the reservation social system while explosive growth of Papago Indian enclaves in surrounding non-Indian communities takes place.