Loyal Student

Sometimes I am surprised by people. Just when I think my cynicism is about to take full control of me, someone does something that restores my battered faith in humanity. Two days ago, just such an event happened.

One of my better students is a member of the committee that is determining what the senior class gift will be. This student has been through the ups and downs of my own sabbatical proprosal and, in the process, has really come to appreciate the present plight of the honey bee. So it really didn't surprise me when he convinced his fellow committee members to seriously consider a bee hive as the senior gift.

Last week he presented his idea for a gift to an administrative committee that included the provost, the college president and the vice president of the academic affairs (who was the individual who rejected my sabbatical proposal).

The meeting started out well but ended a little abruptly. My student asked the administrators whether they'd mind bees on campus and they assured him that they were completely supportive of the gift. He went further, though, and asked them whether they'd mind if the biology department were involved in this project. Again, they were supportive. But then the congenial tone of the meeting went sour when my student asked if the sociology department could be involved as well. The president and the provost laughed nervously while the VP frowned, stated that this wasn't possible, and ended the discussion.

This student knew I was hurt by my sabbatical rejection and risked alienating administration by going to bat for me. I wasn't aware he was even thinking of doing this either. He might have failed in getting my sabbatical reconsidered but he did succeed in making the rest of my week rather pleasant.

Abelisto Begs

The following is yet another email to an adminstrator.

I am not one to beg or be pushy but, at the urging of a colleague I trust greatly, I would ask that you reconsider my sabbatical for next year. A number of things are happening on campus right now that makes my proposed project very relevant, important and engaging to students:


a. Quite independent of my own interest in the topic, both ******* and ******** are seriously considering placing bee hives in the old orchard near Yons for the partial purpose of bringing the issues of sustainability and environmental concerns to the minds of those on campus. This project would be more effective if linked to a course that provided students with the social, economic, cultural and environmental factors connected to these issues.


b. The senior class is seriously discussing donating bee hives to ***** as their senior gift. This demonstrates an interest amongst students in the issues outlined in my proposal.

c. A Resource Analysis grad. student is seeking my help on his own research on bees.

d. One student is interested enough in the environmental and social issues surrounding the survival of honey bees to interview me for his journalism class.



All of the above indicate to me that a Bee focused Global Issues course would be both valuable and engaging to our students.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I'm slowly getting over the humiliation and depression caused by the rejection of my sabbatical proposal. I've had to begin to ask: where do I go from here?

I will continue my project even without university support. Yes, I will have to be less ambitious, and the project will take more time but I feel it is a legitimate project even if some adminstrators don't think so. The last few days I've slowly got back into my research "discipline", examining and coding messages on the Bee-l and Organic Beekeeper email lists. I have been reading some old 19th century beekeeping manuals as well.

I called to order two 3 lb. packages of bees from B & B Honey Farm in Houston MN on the 21st of December. I don't know why but I was a bit nervous making the phonecall. I know people are usually helpful but I really hate requesting things for the first time. I also hate talking on the phone. I will have to call again in a few weeks as the people at B & B don't know how much packages will cost until January.

I have my small beeyard planned atleast in my head. The yard will be approximately 20 feet by 20 feet. The south side will be mostly bordered by an 8 foot fence. The east side totally fenced. The west side is our house and the north side will be a strip of legumes (soy beans and alfalfa). Against the inside of the fence I will be growing plants in flower pots. I will plant some borage, bee balm, chives, sage, catnip, and peppermint. A small, small pond of water will be located near the legumes. A standard Lang. hive will face south and be located near the house. A top bar hive, 5 feet in length, will be perpendicular to the east fence.

Dear Friends...

Many have urged me to apply for sabbatical next year. All I can say is:

If there is no guarantee of getting a sabbatical next year, I do not want to risk humiliation again.

If there is a guarantee of getting one next year, I do not want to benefit from an unjust system.

'Tis the Season...

Dear Dr. *******,

I allowed my response to my sabbatical rejection to sit for 24 hours so that I could respond with a semblance of calm. Frankly, as a 23 year "veteran" at SMU who has never received a sabbatical I feel rather humiliated by the rejection of my proposal. I also have this great sense of urgency about my research, a sense that is shared by the newly founded Global Bee Breeders Association, an international organization of bee breeders and entomologists who have granted me membership in the GBBA on the basis of my wholistic research agenda even though I am neither a beekeeper, bee breeder or entomologist.

If I understood you correctly, your concern was that the sociological/anthropological implications of the proposal were not fleshed out enough; the proposal was too biological. Aside from what I think is an obvious misreading of this proposal , this assessment seems rather ironic to me:

1. The proposal was focused on improving an interdisciplinary course "Global Issues". Many global issues have obvious biological implications.

2. If you examine my career here you will notice that a lion's share of the courses I have taught have been either interdisciplinary or in some other discipline other than sociology. Look at my schedule next semester: two global issues courses, public policy and political and social thought I. None of these courses are primarily sociological. While other people have been able to focus their free time on their own discipline, I have always had to learn someone elses. Now this is turned around when it comes to a sabbatical?

3. My own sociological work has always been informed by strong currents of the "sociology of science" subdiscipline which has often put me at odds with people in the natural sciences. They would be quite amused to hear that my research agenda was primarily biological in focus.

I really don't know how to end this letter because I really don't expect that much can be done. I hope you will recognize and respect some of my frustrations though.


Sincerely,

I Haven't Forgotten About This Blog

I am still waiting to hear about the status of my sabbatical proposal. It is taking much longer than I thought it would. While I wait I've been reading a variety of books, and websites and jotting down some notes that will be useful for the slow construction of my larger work. I've also spent a great deal of time reading the Bee-L and Organic beekeeping email lists. Grounded theory demands a great deal of work and careful analysis but I must say, so far, the project has brought me a great deal of satisfaction.

I will take a few snap shots this weekend of the barrier fence we've been putting up in order to hide the hives and divert the bees flight path over pedestrian traffic. But for any of the readers who are still interested, I am still online and getting ready for my first spring of beekeeping.

FDC Interview

Today, I was interviewed by members of the Faculty Development Committee concerning my proposed sabbatical. I began the session summarizing and clarifying my proposal. First, I gave them a clearer statement of my research questions:

1. How are beekeepers managing their bees in the light of environmental threats? I stated that the word "managing" not only includes apicultural management techniques but those cultural frames beekeepers use to make sense of the environmental threats and their possible solutions.

2. How are a beekeeper's cultural frames systematically related to his/her structural position within the beekeeping field? Like all fields, the field of beekeeping is characterized by an unequal distribution of various types of capital (e.g. economic, cultural)with beekeepers' position in the structure determined by the amount and species of the capital held. Does this structural position shape the position-taking of beekeepers on environmental threats ?

After presenting these two questions, I went on to discuss the development of a bee-focused global issues course and the researching and writing of an ethnography in a literate culture.

After my summary the committee asked me questions about my proposal and it's implications and importance to the institution. One person asked whether I thought of using bees in other courses like Public Policy. He'd noticed my discussion of agricultural policy in the proposal and thought it might fit in well with a course he and I have already taught together. As if he set me up, I told him I was already changing my Public Policy course because of my current research and would focus next semester on environmental policy.

Another person asked me about the liability issues which, in his case, was really a question of visibility. How would I protect the students from bee stings and prepare for possible allergic reactions? I responded by explaining the rarity of allergic reactions and some of the precautions (e.g. no bananas in class!) I would take. This didn't totally satisfy him, since his real concern was with assuring parents that their children would be safe from bees. Another faculty member simply suggested that the course be given an appropriate "warning label" and each student sign a waiver.

Now I must sit and wait for the institution's response to my proposal.

Very Good Progress

Today, I went to a "First Friday" continental breakfast gathering at the university where I work and, in a short 10 minute conversation with two colleagues, I made important progress on my bee-focused Global Issues course for Spring 2009. First, the man who guides and advises the faculty and staff on the use of instructional technology is very interested in helping me apply for equipment funding for this project. This whole conversation was rather interesting in context I think. This man spends his days helping people learn how to use new instructional software, advanced computer technology in the classroom, and purchase GPS units for course use, yet, we spent the time talking about hives, supers, beekeeping clothing and the like. But as he says, "This is also instructional technology as well." He also expressed interest in learning beekeeping with me.

My second conversation was with the Religious Brother who maintains a vegetable garden for his fellow Brothers on campus. I told him about my project and asked if we might discuss the possibility of putting a hive in or near his garden. His response surprised me. He said he's always wanted bees for his garden primarily for their honey. (I assured him that the Brothers could have all the honey-- I am a diabetic and rarely consume honey myself.) He also expressed a desire that the students go farther with my project than just beekeeping.

He said wryly, "I need weeding done and they could learn composting...Right now they could plant my garlic as well... Many of our students have never worked in a garden."

This idea of having students also work with the plants the bees forage on is engaging. The students would have hands-on experience with the plant environment the bees depend on as well.

Sabbatical Proposal Revised Again

I received some comments from the Faculty Development Committee concerning my sabbatical proposal and have revised it. (see below) I am going to let my department chair read this before I send it back to committee since he didn't understand why any changes were called for in the first draft to begin with.

____________

Sabbatical Proposal for Spring Semester 2009
Wesley E. Miller
Department of Social Science
September 2007


1. Synopsis


I teach the interdisciplinary course called Global Issues and every semester I am faced with the same problem: How do I engage students to consider important macro-structural global issues without losing them? An understanding of the problems and benefits surrounding economic and environmental globalization is a must for any informed citizen, yet for many students, these issues are too abstract and distant from them. Their eyes glaze over with each discussion of IMF policy, or the impact of neo-conservative ideology. I do well enough on my evaluations so I could ignore this problem and coast to retirement, but I have this gut feeling, not found in any of the “positivist” assessment tools used to evaluate the course, that my students are just not getting it. Developmentally, my students are very concrete thinkers, so I am left with the problem of getting them to somehow ponder very abstract concepts and processes.

One approach to my dilemma is to get my students to cultivate what we sociologists call “the sociological imagination”: the ability to perceive that one’s inner and day-to-day life is very much connected to the larger macro-structures we live within (Mills 1959); the concrete mundane problems that we can easily grasp are very much related to those larger global issues and policies which we see as distant. From this pedagogical approach, students would start by focusing on an engaging, concrete activity and slowly broaden this focus during the semester, learning how this activity is impacted by a complex web of larger national and global structures that seem so distant to them at first.

After doing some initial reading last summer on the complex issue of “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD) amongst honey bees (Apis Mellifera), I think that a Global Issues course that centers on honey bees as the proverbial “canaries in a coal mine” would help students understand and engage in the global issues that impact their own lives as well. The problems (e.g. CCD, organic vs. conventional husbandry) that beekeepers and their bees face are not simply biological issues, but are influenced by macro structural forces as well.

The effective construction of any such course will demand a retooling on my part. A course with this focus will demand knowledge outside my disciplinary expertise. Besides a hands-on understanding of day-to-day apiculture I will need to become more familiar with global economic and political policy, ecological issues, agribusiness practices, and the cultures and philosophies in the beekeeping world.

In sum, then, I request a sabbatical leave for spring semester 2009 in order to pursue the following objectives:

1. To understand how the day-to-day lives of honey bees and beekeepers are impacted by the larger macro-forces produced by globalization.

Underlying this objective is the theoretical orientation in sociology called “structural constructivism” (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1988). Like ‘normal’ social constructivist theory, this approach recognizes that as individuals interact they collaboratively construct “typifications” or representations of reality (Berger and Luckmann 1967). Structural Constructivism argues that the “social materials” used in the social construction of reality come not only from the external social environment of individuals, but that these materials systematically vary with the structural/historical position of the actor. For example, a middle class, 21 century, US citizen from the Midwest will produce a different social construction than an upper class, 19th century, Irish citizen from Cork simply because their social/geographical/historical coordinates have placed them in different environments where the “social materials” at hand are different.

The chief advantage of this approach in both sociological research and problem-based pedagogy is that it avoids the false opposition between human agency and structural determinism. Actors “improvise” and create but always within the limits of the structures at hand; they internalize the external, while externalizing the internal, all with some “improvisational” control on the part of the agent. As they externalize they also reproduce, and creatively adapt to some degree, the structures they originally internalized.

As a proponent of the Conflict paradigm in sociology, I tend to shy away from the use of systems theory. From my viewpoint, systems theory tends to overly exaggerate the integration of cultural artifacts and the functional interdependence of societal structures, while casting conflict and cultural contradiction as “abnormal”.

2. To distill the above information into concepts and activities that would effectively engage students in understanding global issues.

Admittedly, at this point, I only have vague notions of what a “bee-focused” Global Issues course might look like. I would like to explore the possibility of combining a problem-based pedagogical approach (Delisle 1997) with a grounded theory-based (Glaser and Strauss 1967) research methodology (see more about grounded theory under objective 3). In problem-based pedagogy, students learn not by reading or listening for the teacher’s “correct answers”, but by creating and answering their own questions. The grounded theory methodology would provide the students with an environment to do this in, not simply as students, but as research collaborators elaborating on and clarifying the work I’ve already begun in my ethnography through their collection of data from new theoretically chosen comparison groups. Course activities might well include experiences interviewing beekeepers and observing different apiaries, content analysis of internet “bee” forums and email lists, attending to the current research on bee management and bee ‘problems’ in various apicultural publications, examining economic, environmental and political policies that might impact bees and/or beekeepers, and hands-on experiences in bee management and care. All these experiences would be recorded and reflected upon by each student in a detailed journal of field notes.

While the sociological perspective of the instructor will no doubt be a guiding influence here, the course should offer an interdisciplinary (rather than “other disciplinary”) perspective on “bees in a global context”.



3. To produce an ethnography of the beekeeping world including those more “esoteric” movements like “biodynamic beekeeping” and “apitherapy”.

Methodologically, this ethnography will be guided by two meta-sociological approaches: reflexive sociology and grounded theory.

In a nutshell, reflexive sociology (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992) recognizes that the same types of social forces that impact the social constructions of ordinary actors in day-to-day life also impact the scientific observer and her instruments when doing research and analysis. The scientific method does not provide the observer with a “magic bubble,” giving the researcher a “god-like viewpoint” on reality, thus exempting her from the influences that her social/historical position exerts on her. The reflexive sociologists rejects the “futile attempts to eliminate the effects of (and on) the researcher” (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983:17), but instead calls on the scientific observer to examine those effects in order to produce a richer understanding of the phenomena under study. Ignoring these social forces or claiming to control them doesn’t make the knowledge produced any more valid.

This proposed sabbatical project could serve as an institutional model for doing reflexive research. Whether we are discussing our positivist approach to assessment or Bloom’s taxonomy at SMU, we lack any general acknowledgement or analysis of reflexivity in the knowledge we produce. To paraphrase Schuman (in Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983:17), artifacts (or numbers) are produced in the minds of their socially positioned beholders.

The ethnographic study will also be informed by what is called Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). According to Glaser and Corbin (1990: 21) “the grounded theory approach is a qualitative research method that uses a systematic set of procedures to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a phenomenon”. Through “theoretical sampling” and strategic comparisons, the researcher produces substantive theories that fit the data observed well. The beauty of such a methodology for problem-based pedagogy is that the theories produced are always open-ended, allowing others (both students and faculty) to clarify and possibly add to the theory through their own systematic observations, strategic comparisons and analytical clarifications.


2. Activities Description

The following is a tentative timeline of the activities I propose to do during this sabbatical. The spring semester was chosen since it coincides with the beginning of beekeeping season in Minnesota.

a. January

1. Library research with a focus on bee biology and apiculture.
2. Begin interviews with apiculturalists of all types. It will include interviews with large and small-scale intensive honey producers, apiarists who practice “organic” or “sustainable” beekeeping, and backyard beekeepers who have one or two hives.
3. Attend the American Beekeeping Federation annual meeting.

b. February

1. Library research and interviewing with a focus on the philosophical “esoteric” side of beekeeping. This includes examining the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, Gunther Hauk, and other members of the “biodynamic” movement. Also, time will be spent studying the ideas of Charles Mraz and other proponents of “apitherapy”. This also might include attendance at an American Apitherapy meeting and a visit to the apiary founded by Charles Mraz in Burlington, Vermont.
2. Attend the Organic Beekeeping Society meeting.

c. March

1. Library research on global agricultural policy and practices.
2. Take a short course on apiculture at the University of Minnesota extension from Dr. Marla Spivak, breeder of the “Minnesota Hygienic” bee.
3. Prepare two hives: one using conventional Langtroth boxes and frames, the second using a Kenyan Top Bar hive.
4. Continue interviews


d. April and May

1. Begin construction of a Global Issues syllabus using materials collected thus far. Syllabus will include readings and activities in and out of class.
2. Participant observation conducted at local apiaries of different sizes and philosophies. Observations will go beyond simply husbandry concerns to attitudes towards bees and global concerns.
3. Add bees to the two hives set up last month.
4. Library research with a focus on global environmental issues that may impact bees.


e. May to Summer

1. Begin the writing and continue research for the ethnography.
2. Summer management of bees.


3. Contribution Description

a. Professional Development – Sociology has a long tradition of ethnographic studies describing the subcultures of occupations. Back in the 1920s, Robert Park (1983) analyzed the social world of news reporters. In the 1950s, Howard Becker (1963) examined the lebenswelt of Chicago jazz musicians. More recently, French sociologist Loic Wacquant (2006) did a participant observation study as an apprentice boxer. These studies looked underneath the manifest, official descriptions of these occupations found in organizational flow charts or career services materials to a complex world of meanings and rituals. This ethnographic examination of the world of beekeeping is my first attempt to add to this body of materials.
b. Academic Program – I think that the activities of this proposed sabbatical, brought into the classroom environment, will enhance our students understanding of global issues. If other faculty find this approach engaging and/or successful, it might inspire others to approach other courses in this manner.
c. Sharing Results with Other Faculty- Besides doing a post-sabbatical presentation on some relevant issue growing out of my research, I will be keeping a daily blog which will be accessible to faculty, students, and administration during and after the sabbatical. This blog (“Canaries in a Coal Mine”) will document my sabbatical’s day-to-day activities and discoveries. The use of a blog in this fashion is something rather unique.

5. Assessment Description

Four types of evidence will be used in assessing this sabbatical project.

a. Scholarly Publications- I will produce some body of work that will be submitted either in article or book form. I can envision the research producing a number of possible publications in sociology, pedagogy, environmental studies, and apiculture.
b. Presentation at the Midwest Sociology Convention.
c. I will use the comments left on my blog to assess the accuracy and clarity of what I am discovering. I will also share the assessment of my work to my blog readers as well.
d. I will produce a new syllabus for my Global Issues course that uses honeybees as a concrete focus for examining the problems and benefits globalization.


Works Cited


Becker, Howard S. 1963. The Outsiders. New York: Free Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre and Loic Wacquant. 1988. “Social Space and Symbolic Power”. Social Theory 7:18-26.

Bourdieu, Pierre and Loic Wacquant.1992. Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Delisle, Robert. 1997. How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom. Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine.

Hammersley, Martyn and Atkinson, Paul. 1983. Ethnography: Principle in Practices. New York: Routledge.

Mills, C. Wright. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Park, Robert E. 1983. “The Natural History of a Newspaper”. The City: Suggestions for Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban Environment. Edited by Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wacquant, Loic. 2006. Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer. Oxford: Oxford University.

Stage One of the Approval Process

Yesterday, I received an initial response from the Faculty Development Committee on my sabbatical proposal . They seemed excited enough but it is often difficult for me to judge. These days, educational institutions have a tendency to try to preserve people's "self-esteem", so everything you do as a student or faculty member is "great". (I'm cynical enough not to buy into it.) The committee did make some reading recommendations, however, mostly about fleshing out some of the pedagogical and research issues in the proposal. So I'm off to the library this morning to borrow a stack of books. At 9 a.m. I have an appointment with one of the committee members who will clarify any ambiguous points in their recommendations.

Sabbatical Proposal Submitted

I submitted my sabbatical proposal to my Dean and Department Chair and now it is just a waiting game. Next week I will be going to our "grant guru" and try to find a place to apply for some research money. Hopefully, sometime next week I might even begin work on a top bar hive.

I am cautiously optimistic about getting all this approved. I'll still keep bees and do some careful observations irrespective of what happens though.

Finally, Someone Put this into Words (Warning: No Bee Content)

In preparation for my impending (and still tentative) ethnographic sabbatical, I've been returning to some books on field research, one of which is a highly engaging work by Hammersley and Atkinson, Ethnography Principles and Practices. I've been waiting for years to put into words what Hammersley and Atkinson state in one short sentence:

"Here, naturalism takes over a common, but erroneous, view that only false beliefs can be explained sociologically, and in this case the outcome is thoroughgoing relativism. " (pg 13)

And the Winner Is...

After some research (which included an assessment of my finances and other resources)I've decided to set up top bar hives next spring. Phil Chandler's book,The Barefoot Beekeeper, convinced me that it is possible to start out with such a hive and with a little more information gathered from the good people on his top bar hive forum I'm on my way. After my partner's art show opening next week, she and I will begin building two top bar hives. I already have my eye on an unused flower pot that will make an excellent nuc as well.

On the sabbatical front, the first draft of my proposal has received good reviews from some trusted colleagues. I even have one offer to help out.

Edited a bit

If you've already read the sabbatical proposal, you might like to read it again. I've changed a few errors and modified the timeline a bit.

Sabbatical Proposal

The following is my first draft of a sabbatical proposal I will be submitting in October. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

1. Synopsis


I teach the interdisciplinary course called Global Issues and every semester I am faced with the same problem: How do I engage students to consider important macro-structural global issues without losing them? An understanding of the problems and benefits surrounding economic and environmental globalization are a must for any informed citizen, yet for many students, these issues are too abstract and distant from them. Their eyes glaze over with each discussion of IMF policy, or the impact of neo-conservative ideology. I do well enough on my evaluations so I could ignore this problem and coast to retirement, but I have this gut feeling, not found in any of the "positivist" assessment tools used to evaluate the course, that my students are just not getting it. Developmentally, my students are very concrete thinkers, so I am left with the problem of getting them to somehow ponder very abstract concepts and processes.



One approach to my dilemma is to get my students to cultivate what we sociologists call "the sociological imagination": the ability to perceive that one's inner and day-to-day life is very much connected to the larger macro-structures we live within; the concrete mundane problems that we can easily grasp are very much related to those larger global issues and policies which we see as distant. From this pedagogical approach, students would start by focusing on an engaging, concrete activity and slowly broaden this focus during the semester, learning how this activity is impacted by a complex web of larger national and global structures that seem so distant to them at first.

After doing some initial reading last summer on the complex issue of “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD) amongst honey bees (Apis Mellifera), I think that a Global Issues course that centers on honey bees as the proverbial “canaries in a coal mine” would help students understand and engage in the global issues that impact their own lives as well. The problems (e.g. CCD, organic vs. conventional husbandry) that beekeepers and their bees face are not simply biological issues, but are influenced by macro structural forces as well.

The effective construction of any such course will demand a retooling on my part. A course with this focus will demand knowledge outside my disciplinary expertise. Besides a hands-on understanding of day-to-day apiculture I will need to become more familiar with global economic and political policy, ecological issues, agribusiness practices, and the cultures and philosophies in the beekeeping world.

In sum, then, I request a sabbatical leave for spring semester 2009 in order to pursue the following objectives:

1. To understand how the day-to-day lives of honey bees and beekeepers are impacted by the larger macro-forces produced by globalization.

2. To distill the above information into concepts and activities that would effectively engage students in understanding global issues.

3. To produce an ethnography of the beekeeping world including those more “esoteric” movements like “biodynamic beekeeping” and “apitherapy”.


2. Activities Description

The following is a tentative timeline of the activities I propose to do during this sabbatical. The spring semester was chosen since it coincides with the beginning of beekeeping season in Minnesota. During this process a daily blog, accessible to all interested, will be kept on my progress and ideas.

a. January

1. Library research with a focus on bee biology and apiculture
2. Begin interviews with apiculturalists of all type. It will include interviews with large and small-scale intensive honey producers, apiarists who practice “organic” or “sustainable” beekeeping, and backyard beekeepers who have one of two hives.
3. Attend the American Beekeeping Federation annual meeting.

b. February

1. Library research and interviewing with a focus on the philosophical “esoteric” side of beekeeping. This includes examining the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, Gunther Hauk, and other members of the “biodynamic” movement. Also, time will be spent studying the ideas of Charles Mraz and other proponents of “apitherapy”. This also might include attendance at an American Apitherapy meeting and a visit to the apiary founded by Mraz in Burlington, Vermont.

c. March

1. Library research on global agriculture policy and practices.
2. Take a short course on apiculture at the University of Minnesota extension from Dr. Marla Spivak, breeder of the “Minnesota Hygenic” bee.
3. Prepare two hives: one using conventional Langtroth boxes and frames, the second using a Kenyan Top Bar hive.
4. Continue interviews.



d. April and May
1. Begin construction of a Global Issues syllabus using materials collected thus far. Syllabus will include readings and activities in and out of class.
2. Participant observation conducted at local apiaries of all different sizes and philosophies. Observations will go beyond simply husbandry concerns to attitudes towards bees and global concerns
3. Add bees to the two hives set up last month.
4. Library research with a focus on global environmental issues that may impact bees.

e. May to Summer

1. Begin the writing and continued research for the ethnography.
2. Summer management of bees.


3. Contribution Description

a. Professional Development – Sociology has a long tradition of ethnographic studies describing the subcultures of occupations. Back in the 1920s, Robert Park analyzed the social world of news reporters. In the 1950s, Howard Becker examined the lebenswelt of Chicago jazz musicians. More recently, French sociologist Loic Wacquant did a participant observation study as an apprentice boxer. These studies looked underneath the manifest, official descriptions of these occupations found in organizational flow charts or career services materials to a complex world of meanings and rituals. This ethnographic examination of the world of beekeeping is my first attempt to add to this body of materials.
b. Academic Program – I think that the activities of this proposed sabbatical, brought into the classroom environment, will enhance our students understanding of global issues. If other faculty find this approach engaging and/or successful, it might inspire others to approach other courses in this manner.
c. Sharing Results with Other Faculty- Besides doing a post-sabbatical presentation on some relevant issue growing out of my research, I will be keeping a daily blog which will be accessible to faculty, students, and administration during and after the sabbatical. This blog (“Canaries in a Coal Mine”) will document my sabbatical’s day-to-day activities and discoveries.

4. Assessment Description

Four types of evidence will be used in assessing this sabbatical project.

a. Scholarly Publications- I will produce some body of work that will be submitted either in article or book form. I can picture the research producing a number of possible publications in sociology, pedagogy, environmental studies, and apiculture.
b. Presentation at the Midwest Sociology Convention.
c. I will use the comments left on my blog to assess the accuracy and clarity of what I am discovering. I will also share the assessment of my work to my blog readers as well.
d. I will produce a new syllabus for my Global Issues course that uses honeybees as a concrete focus for examining the problems and benefits globalization.