27.05.2025

Poeple and bees. Anthropology of beekeping in Poland.

The presentation deals with the results of field research conducted in 2018–2022 as part of doctoral studies at the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The author draws on her doctoral thesis, which addresses the issue of protecting one area of intangible cultural heritage – beekeeping, understood as nature-related knowledge and practices. The originality of the topic lies in the application of the concept of interspecies relations between humans and the non-human world, represented by honey bees. The presenter conducted extensive anthropological field research among beekeepers and in institutions involved in the protection of natural heritage (organised top-down, e.g. State Forests, and bottom-up, e.g. associations and informal groups of people). The author puts forward hypotheses concerning: the protection of intangible cultural heritage, the dimensions of beekeeping (institutional and grassroots practices) treated as an example of inclusive practices, mechanisms for recreating heritage, and interspecies relations.

Karolina Echaust – Cultural anthropologist, ethnologist, PhD in humanities. For over 10 years, she has been dealing with issues of cultural and natural heritage in rural areas and cities. Her research interests focus on environmental humanities, critical studies of cultural and natural heritage, interspecies ethnography, and science and technology studies (STS). She is an author of monographs and articles published in scientific and popular science journals, a member of the UNESCO team of experts on the intangible cultural heritage of cities, and vice-president of the Poznań branch of the Polish Folklore Society. She is also the founder and chair of the Environmental Anthropology and Interspecies Ethnography Section of the Polish Folklore Society and a member of the European Association for Critical Animal Studies (EACAS). In addition, she is the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for 2023 for her outstanding doctoral thesis, the National Institute of Rural Culture and Heritage in Warsaw Award for the best doctoral thesis, and the Polish Academy of Sciences Branch in Poznań Award for the best original creative work by a doctoral student (2023).