Making Indigeneity

The Beekeeper’s Perspective

Abstract

A new nationalistic concept of ‘autochthony’ has developed in Sardinia in recent decades, which has progressively intertwined with various territorial matters in seeking to affirm an alleged biological authenticity of Sardinia and Sardinians. As a consequence of this sentiment, safeguarding the biodiversity of Sardinia has become a way to ‘purify’ the island from species that are considered symbols of the alleged subordinate role into which Sardinians have been confined since the Savoy regime. In this paper I discuss the role of beekeepers, focusing on how different notions of the autochthonous are used to shape the edges of territoriality. For the Sardinian beekeeper, working within a territory means becoming part of it, linking one’s own history to the history of the place. As such, working with local honeybees is a way to work with the tradition of su connotu (the known). Finally, I show the differences in discourses of territoriality and spatiality among Sardinian beekeepers and how these differences determine a new category of indigeneity that contrasts with the policies of cultural homogenization aiming to build an ‘authentic’ Sardinia.