Problems and Progress in the Ethnographic Analysis of Small Scale Human Ecosystems

Recent research on the subsistence economics of small-scale communities of producers has involved the application of ecological models for explanatory and descriptive purposes, using where appropriate methods and data drawn from biological ecology and bio-energetics. This has had significant effects in terms of empirical results, explanatory hypotheses and general theory. The article reviews the value of calorific data and information on the fluctuation of patterns of appropriation with reference to the author's own work in Indonesia, together with the practical and methodological difficulties entailed in research of this nature. The ecosystem concept is considered in relation to the interpretation of temporal change and socio-ecological cycles. This is followed by a review of some difficulties in the application of systems models and the article concludes on the question of the integration of intentional patterns of human action in the analysis of the objective structure of ecosystems.