Aprendizado técnico como mecanismo de manutenção da vida: etnografia multiespécies no Meliponário Cantinho do Céu, área de proteção ambiental da Serra de Baturité, em Guaramiranga, Ceará

Abstract

What does it take to be a beekeeper? For Seu Antônio, responsible for the Meliponário Cantinho do Céu (MCC), it is necessary to feel affection; pay attention to everything, and master manual skills. The Meliponário Cantinho do Céu is located in the municipality of Guaramiranga, state of Ceará, part of the Environmental Protection Area of Serra de Baturité, Atlantic Forest biome. The meliponary is known in the region for having several species of native stingless bees (CORTOPASSI-LAURINO; NOGUEIRA-NETO, 2016). The aim of the study is to show how affection triggers a set of significant responses (DOOREN; KIRSKEY; MÜNSTER, 2016), demarcated by ecology (ODUM, 1971) and ethology of bees (LORENZ, 1995). To understand the particular universe of each species, I resort to the notion of umwelt, "own worlds" (UEXKÜLL, 1982), however, with an ethnographic guise (KIRSKEY, HELMREICH, 2020). Instead of emphasizing the inherently organized structures of bees, from a zoological-philosophical perspective, as Uexküll (1982) does, I emphasize the ways in which Seu Antônio identifies parts of these structures, especially those that give rise to gestures and technical operations (LEROI- GOURHAN, 1984, 1987). Such as, for instance, the selection of materials (INGOLD, 2015, 2022), bioprospecting and geoprospecting. In this perspective, Seu Antônio has learned to elaborate practical responses to the management of each species, which is expressed in the production of tools, including hydraulic mechanisms, lighting devices, tenements, food containers, housing architecture, etc. His practical knowledge and wisdom has been enhanced by reading the specialized literature in the area, talking to researchers, beekeepers and visitors in general. I have named these processes “technical learning” as they involve ways of learning, “doing” and “going through” something (INGOLD, 2020). Regarding to technique, I operate from the perspective of Sautchuk (2017), perceiving technique as “[...] a relationship that encompasses humans and nonhumans (or even the living and the non-living, in even broader senses), mediated or not by objects, oriented by some kind of finality, efficacy or becoming, which assumes a significant character for the modes and existence of beings and things involved.” (p.11). The bees are part of Seu Antônio's family, being usually treated as “daughters”, a fundamental element identified during the investigation, which interferes in almost all actions related to them. For Leroi – Gourhan (1984), the gesture is the most emblematic act of the technique. In our case, the gesture is the most expressive technical/affective act for dealing with bees. The questions raised in the research are placed in the field of study that different researchers have called “Multispecies Studies” (KIRSKSEY; HELMREICH, 2020). In this context, to love is "to know and to care" properly, and it requires learning, affection, engagement, effort and practical responsiveness. When properly treated, bees reciprocate by increasing the production of honey, propolis, and wax as well as multiply quickly and rarely get sick. Through this relationship, characteristics of multispecific mutualism can be observed (TSING, 2019).