Authors

Discussion

Given that honeybees are highly mobile, aerial creatures it might seem strange to speak about them in relation to the concept of “territory.” Yet, beekeeping laws and regulation in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania all require beekeepers to work with Carpathian honeybees (which are referred to variously as subspecies, populations, or breeds) in all or some administrative districts. While Carpathian bees have many fans and allies in these countries, others advocate the use of bees from Austria, Germany, Denmark and elsewhere which they import illegally. Indeed, honeybee queens’ small size makes it relatively easy to move them across borders in circumvention of states’ biosecurity controls. Meanwhile honeybees’ aerial, polyandrous mating practices means that hybridization among honeybee kinds occurs easily. This paper draws together insights from animal geography and border studies to analyze the transborder, more-than-human dimensions of conflicts over honeybee territorialization in Moldova and western Ukraine. Drawing on ethnographic research with Ukrainian and Moldovan beekeepers, breeders, researchers and their bees during a series of trips in 2018, 2019, and 2021, I describe the socialities through which zoning and biosecurity regulation is mobilized and subverted by those who seek to secure a transboundary Carpathian honeybee territory and those who seek to challenge it.