<i>Xunáan Kab</i> Rhythms: Native Bees and Ecological Change in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

Xunáan kab (Melipona beecheii) is a stingless, honey-producing bee native to the Yucatan peninsula. The traditional Maya practice of keeping these bees is now in decline after weathering decades of deforestation, industrialized agriculture, touristic development, and the introduction of competitor species. Based on a period of fieldwork with an alternative beekeeping collective in the forests of central Yucatan, this entry discusses bees as embodiments of social and ecological histories.