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To save the bees or not to save the bees: honey bee health in the Anthropocene

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  • Eleanor Andrews

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

As honey bee colonies continue to perish at high rates, beekeepers are divided on how best to keep bees healthy and productive. In this article, I describe the tensions between conventional beekeepers and a new wave of beekeepers hoping to “save the bees” through a more “natural” approach to beekeeping. Drawing on animal studies and multispecies literature, I show how beekeepers in both camps are constrained by the reality of the Anthropocene: novel ecologies, shifting baselines, and the hybridity of honey bees themselves—part wild animal subject to environmental change, part industrial organism, embedded in circuits of migratory pollination. Beekeepers on both sides are investing in genetics as a solution to honey bee health problems. Thinking with bees helps deepen the literature on multispecies encounters and interrogate the idea of sustainability in agriculture, while thinking with the Anthropocene prompts us to ask what “saving the bees” even means in today’s changing world.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleanor Andrews, 2019. "To save the bees or not to save the bees: honey bee health in the Anthropocene," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(4), pages 891-902, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09946-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-019-09946-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rosemary-Claire Collard & Jessica Dempsey & Juanita Sundberg, 2015. "A Manifesto for Abundant Futures," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 105(2), pages 322-330, March.
    2. Holly Jean Buck, 2015. "On the Possibilities of a Charming Anthropocene," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 105(2), pages 369-377, March.
    3. Weis, Tony, 2013. "The Ecological Hoofprint," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9781780320977, Febrero.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maderson, Siobhan, 2023. "Co-producing agricultural policy with beekeepers: Obstacles and opportunities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    2. Rebecca Ellis, 2022. "Social reproduction, playful work, and bee-centred beekeeping," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(4), pages 1329-1340, December.

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