Unit 8
Desert Peoples of the Great Basin and California

Unit 8 combines two adjacent culture areas, the Great Basin and California. The ingenuity of adaptations to this arid country has long fascinated anthropologists. The extensive knowledge system of this region’s inhabitants confounds the assumption that when an area has poor resources, hardship and starvation necessarily follow. Unit 8 studies the Western Shoshone and the Desert Cahuilla.

Objectives

When you have completed Unit 8, you should be able to

1. describe the geographic and environmental characteristics of the Great Basin and California culture areas.
2. identify the geographic locations of the major Aboriginal cultural groups of the Great Basin and California regions.
3. compare Western Shoshone and Cahuilla societies with regard to
   • economy (resources, technology, division of labour, seasonal mobility);
   • social organization (group membership, marriage rules, non-kin relations);
   • political systems (leadership, social control, warfare); and
   • ideological systems (rituals, beliefs, worldview).
4. understand the differences in social organization between the Western Shoshone and the Cahuilla and describe how this led to different marriage rules in each culture.
5. explain the connection between types of leadership positions and types of social organization among the Cahuilla and Western Shoshone.
6. describe the rituals surrounding birth and puberty among the Cahuilla.
7. discuss the effects of colonization on the social organization and the religious life of the Cahuilla and Western Shoshone.
8. discuss how colonization might affect men and women differently among the Cahuilla and Western Shoshone.
9. compare the post-colonial history of land issues between the Cahuilla and Western Shoshone.
10. describe the development of casinos among the Cahuilla.