"Buzz is a fascinating reminder of the interconnections between
humans and animals, even in that most urban of environments, New
York City."--Gary Alan Fine, author of Authors of the Storm:
Meteorologists and the Culture of Prediction Bees are essential for
human survival--one-third of all food on American dining tables
depends on the labor of bees. Beyond pollination, the very idea of
the bee is ubiquitous in our culture: we can feel buzzed; we can
create buzz; we have worker bees, drones, and Queen bees; we
establish collectives and even have communities that share a
hive-mind. In Buzz, authors Lisa Jean Moore and Mary Kosut
convincingly argue that the power of bees goes beyond the food
cycle, bees are our mascots, our models, and, unlike any other
insect, are both feared and revered. In this fascinating account,
Moore and Kosut travel into the land of urban beekeeping in New
York City, where raising bees has become all the rage. We follow
them as they climb up on rooftops, attend beekeeping workshops and
honey festivals, and even put on full-body beekeeping suits and
open up the hives. In the process, we meet a passionate, dedicated,
and eclectic group of urban beekeepers who tend to their brood with
an emotional and ecological connection that many find restorative
and empowering. Kosut and Moore also interview professional
beekeepers and many others who tend to their bees for their
all-important production of a food staple: honey. The artisanal
food shops that are so popular in Brooklyn are a perfect place to
sell not just honey, but all manner of goods: soaps, candles,
beeswax, beauty products, and even bee pollen. Buzz also examines
media representations of bees, such as children's books, films, and
consumer culture, bringing to light the reciprocal way in which the
bee and our idea of the bee inform one another. Partly an
ethnographic investigation and partly a meditation on the very
nature of human/insect relations, Moore and Kosut argue that how we
define, visualize, and interact with bees clearly reflects our
changing social and ecological landscape, pointing to how we
conceive of and create culture, and how, in essence, we create
ourselves. Lisa Jean Moore is a feminist medical sociologist and
Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Purchase College,
State University of New York. Mary Kosut is Associate Professor of
Media, Society and the Arts at Purchase College, State University
of New York. In the Biopolitics series
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