Nurturing the Matriarchy: From Beescapes to Reciprocity
Thu, Oct 20, 12–2pm Pacific Time
The Queen is the heart of the hive, a conduit for sharing memories from one generation of bees onto the next for survival and longevity. The relationships between topography, time, and seasons sculpt these memories. The dynamics between humans and bees in diverse landscapes encourage adaptive stewardship, from the first indigenous beekeepers and farmers to today’s diaspora of peoples and disciplines. Around the globe, bees inspire stewards.
This presentation will take viewers on a visual and storytelling journey, reflecting on how past and present apicultural experiences guide us into the future and encourage reciprocity.
About Melanie Kirby
Melanie Kirby is an interdisciplinarian, weaving the cultural, artistic, and scientific approaches to beekeeping by exploring kaleidoscopic concepts and implications of land stewardship, agroecology, food systems, biodiversity conservation, and outreach. In 2005, she co-founded Zia Queenbees in the southern Rocky Mountains of the U.S., specializing in breeding regionally adaptive bees. A Fulbright-NatGeo Storytelling Fellow with a graduate degree in Entomology, she advocates for broadening the narrative of marginalized farmers and communities as a mestiza of mixed indigenous ancestry. Melanie collaborates across cultures and landscapes, promoting whole-system approaches to pollinator conservation with diverse communities, including SlowFood-SlowBees and as founder of The Adaptive Bee Breeders Alliance.