2019
108 pp.
2 colour maps, 47 colour photos, 1 rock art painting, 1 table
Text language: English
This book is the first general overview of beekeeping and the honey trade in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Adamaoua Region of Central Cameroon.
Dr. Mazi Sanda, a Cameroonian biologist, and Dr. Martin Gruber, a German anthropologist and filmmaker, have interviewed and filmed numerous beekeepers and honey traders in the region. The authors offer a detailed description of honey hunting and beekeeping with Apis mellifera adansonii in traditional hives, they also describe improved traditional hives, honey harvesting and the honey trade. Honey has become a big business and Ngaoundéré, the capital of the Adamaoua Region, is an important trade centre.
In the book you will find a detailed ethnographic account of the manifold connections between humans, bees and honey. The book is aimed at the academic community, as well as at beekeepers and anyone interested in natural resources and their sustainable development in Cameroon and elsewhere in the region.
CONTENTS
Preface / Introduction
1 Research on Beekeeping in the Adamaoua Region
2 Bees and Beekeeping in Africa and the Adamaoua Region
3 Honey Hunting: 3.1 Honey Hunting from Earth Nests 3.2 Honey Hunting from Hollow Trees 3.3 Honey Hunting from Stingless Bees 3.4 Honey Hunting with the Honey Guide Bird (Indicator indicator) 3.5 Honey Hunting in Local Oral History
4 Beekeeping with Conical Beehives: 4.1 The Manufacturing of Hives 4.2 Beekeeping Practice 4.3 Honey Harvesting 4.4 Innovations in Beekeeping
5 Honey Trade: 5.1 Different Categories of Honey Traders 5.2 Places of Trading Honey 5.3 Recent Developments in the Honey Trade 5.4 Adulterated Honey 5.5 The Use of Honey
6 Potentials and Challenges Related to Beekeeping: 6.1 Environmental Degradation and Climate Change 6.2 Security Issues 6.3 Beekeeping and Development
Conclusion / References
Under these links you will find publications on bee-keeping in Africa and on African phyto-/zoonyms, as well as further studies of the conceptualization of nature, environment, space and motion in African languages and cultures:
M. Brenzinger / B. Heine / I. Heine: The Mukogodo Maasai – An Ethnobotanical Survey [PDF]
Bompeti Ngila: Expérience végétale bolia (République Démocratique du Congo) [PDF]
Sirih-Nagang Nancy Nyindem: Linguistic Salvage – Isubu and Wovea (Bantu A231) – Phytonyms and Zoonyms [PDF]
C. König / B. Heine / K. Legère / I. Heine: The Akie Language of Tanzania – Texts and Dictionary [PDF]
Bernd Heine / Karsten Legère: Swahili Plants – An Ethnobotanical Survey [PDF]
