1) The community must be placed within a double circle :
- its relationship with the natural environment ;
- its relationship with other societies.
a) Relationship with the environment
- presence or absence of agriculture (alteration of the environment) ;
- shifting cultivation as opposed to permanent agriculture
e.g. irrigated rice.
If there is shifting swidden agriculture :
- is the cleared plot burnt or not ;
- length of cultivation period of cleared plot ;
- length of fallow period ;
- subsequent use of the fallow.
b) Relationships with other societies (in concentric circles) :
- Internal network (within the ethnic group) along which goods and resources travel ;
- local flow of resources
to supply neighbouring groups : complex regional symbiotic networks with or without a market ;
- regional flow of resources
involvement in markets, indirectly supplying towns ;
- international flow of resources
involvement in the international market, production of exportable resources.
2) Food supplies and their origin
The economy of forest swidden cultivators is involved in a double interaction and we must assess to what extent each of the following contribute to food supplies :
- agriculture or collecting wild resources ;
- self-sufficiency or the use of cash (cash acquired through the sale of cash crops or by trading other products).