Buzz: Urban Beekeeping and the Power of the BeeLisa JeanMoore and MaryKosut. New York: New York University Press, 2013.

Abstract

Buzz: Urban Beekeeping and the Power of the Bee Lisa Jean Moore and Mary Kosut. New York: New York University Press, 2013.After three years of research, Moore and Kosut admit that bees cannot be wholly contained, not in a hive or in theory, at least not permanently (19). That truth conveys the frustrating charm of their book about the sociology of the interaction between bees and their keepers in America's largest city.During the first decade of the twenty-first century, beekeeping was banned within New York City. It was an unenforced regulation that had little effect on the practice. After reports that the bee population worldwide was gradually declining due to a mysterious phenomenon named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the city lifted the ban.Sociologists Moore and Kosut, teaching in Purchase College-SU NY and living in Brooklyn, responded to what they call the buzz about beekeeping. They thought it would be a doable and enjoyable project to study the tribal subculture of those whose urge to merge with nature took place within Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx, a remarkably unnatural environment of smog, flat rooftops (a favorite spot for urban beekeepers), asphalt streets, and concrete sidewalks. Studying an insect, they found, eliminated the bureaucratic hurdles usually faced by professional scholars. There was no need to file the standard approval or consent forms with the Institutional Review Board. Unlike human subjects, bees are not protected from invasive interviewing techniques. There was also no need to obtain permission from the animal rights organizations. Unlike dogs, cats, and reptiles, bees are not even protected by the American Veterinary Medical Association. That attitude-a casual sort of speciesism-became one of the unexpected aspects of Moore and Kosut's study.They read up on the life of bees, signed up for a sixmonth class about urban beekeeping, visited hives, and talked to practitioners. Turns out, one of the attractions for the urban hobbyist is the ease of getting started. It doesn't take much money or space: three pounds of bees, a queen, and a wooden box. Yet the importance of bees to human life is staggering. Without bees to pollinate crops, certain sources of food might become prohibitively scarce or disappear altogether. To take one prominent example, almond orchards depend almost entirely on forced bee pollination (driving flatbed trucks full of bee hives to the field for the growing season). …