Linked: Insects and Humans
Kimberely Rodriguez
Dead West FLC
First Draft:
“There is a long history of writing on insects, both as models and as metaphors for human sociality, morality and politics” (Kosek). The earliest evidence of the relationship between insects and humans was found inscribed on a bison bone by a Cro-Magnon person and is said to be 200,000 years old (Dicke , 2000).
“Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee” by Jake Kosek. This is where I found my interest in insect-human relations. It explains the symbolic and physical “remaking” of the modern honeybee because of these insect-human relations. Kosek makes one point clear, “ There is renewed interest among anthropologists and scholars in kindred disciplines about the role insects play in human sociality”.
In the last century bees have been newly designed for easy observation and manipulation by beekeepers. They are widely mass produced to serve as pollinators and shipped all of the world (Kosek). . Although most can care less about the possible extinction of the honeybee, honeybee’s serve an important role in human life. Without pollination our food will decrease in supply and increase in price. Not to mention other advantages such as honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, apitherapy, and even income for beekeepers.
Kosek explains that because the bee was humanized in the 21st Century, it’s exoskeleton, nervous system, digestive tract, collective social behavior, size, and color have all completely transformed. Not only have the bees changed externally, but the social organization has also changed, with fewer guard bees, a shortened or even non existent hibernation season, and a larger wax comb (Kosek).
“From fighting ants to racialized lice to industrious bees, the size, sociality, and ubiquitous presence of insects has made them a source and site for creative and scholarly writing” (Kosek, 653).
Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles (2010) is another great source that indicates human-insect relations, it shows how insects became included within the anthropological exploration of human culture.
In Chernobyl, Chapter 3, Raffles introduces Cornelia. Cornelia studies and paints insects that have been deformed by human induced nuclear fall out. Cornelia believes that portraits achieve a break through of the lines between human and insect. “It is a way of achieving multidimensional knowledge of the subject, a way to see it in its biological, phenomenological and political fullness” (Raffles, 26). Cornelia visited places including Osterfarnebo, Sellafield, Gundremmingen, La Hague, and Chernobyl. Although her work is neglected by many due to her amateur status, gender, and sensitivity of the issue, Cornelia explains that insects are effected more in higher concentration of nuclear fallout than in lower concentration. She is shocked at what nuclear fall out physically does to these insects and everyday discovers more damaged plants and bugs from this issue. In Chapter 3, the author, Raffles, explains that since we know that humans are largely negatively effected by radioactivity, that the insects have to be suffering as well. “The international nuclear regulatory agencies-- principally the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation-- Calculate the dangers of radioactivity to human health along with other organisms (insects) using a threshold” (Raffles, 22).
In Chapter 7 of Insectopedia, titled Generosity (the Happy Times), Raffles explains human-insect relations on a more intimate perspective, Shangai Chinese fighting crickets. Cricket fighting is no joke.
The Infested Mind, a book by Jeffrey Lockwood, shows the relationships insects and humans and how us humans are using insects as warfare. Insects have been used in our wars in effort to defeat other humans. In World War ll the Japanese killed more than four hundred thousand people with cholera-coated flies and plague-infected fleas. Other research projects that took place during World War ll resulted in millions and millions of mosquitos and beetles “deployed” to infest crops, soldiers, and civilians. The United States Entomological Warfare decision at Fort Detrick weaponized yellow fever mosquitos during the Cold War (Lockwood, 122). The Emir of Buchara used beetles to eat the flesh of his prisoners. Scientists are busy engineering insects to produce lethally flawed offspring. “For better or worse, our biologies (humans and insects) are interdependent” (Lockwood, 159).
Final Draft:
“There is a long history of writing on insects, both as models and as metaphors for human sociality, morality and politics” (Kosek). This literary analysis will explore what we already know about insect-human relations visually, socially, and physically that you may have never heard before. Humans have a long history in relations to insects, the earliest evidence of the relationship between insects and humans was found inscribed on a bison bone by a Cro-Magnon person and is said to be 200,000 years old (Dicke , 2000).
We start off with “Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee” by Jake Kosek. This is where I found my interest in insect-human relations. It explains the symbolic and physical “remaking” of the modern honeybee because of these insect-human relations. Kosek makes one point clear, “ There is renewed interest among anthropologists and scholars in kindred disciplines about the role insects play in human sociality” (Raffles 2010). Kosek talks about epidemiology (The branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factor relating to health (Oxford University Press)) and explains that it is necessary to state that human fears, interests, and desires have become part of the modernized form of the bee.
In the last century bees have been newly designed for easy observation and manipulation by beekeepers. They are widely mass produced to serve as pollinators and shipped all of the world (Kosek). This can possibly contribute to the issue of “colony collapse”, the decline in population of the honeybee is significant (Kosek). Although most can care less about the possible extinction of the honeybee, honeybee’s serve an important role in human life. Without pollination our food will decrease in supply and increase in price. Not to mention other advantages such as honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, apitherapy, and even income for beekeepers.
Kosek explains that because the bee was humanized in the 21st Century, it’s exoskeleton, nervous system, digestive tract, collective social behavior, size, and color have all completely transformed. Not only have the bees changed externally, but the social organization has also changed, with fewer guard bees, a shortened or even non existent hibernation season, and a larger wax comb (Kosek).
Even New Mexico’s own Sandia Labs began to use honeybees to monitor contaminated sites around Los Alamos, where radioactivity from the Cold War will exist for years and years to come. Paul Fresquez from the labs speaks up about the new technology of bees saying, “You can simply place a hive in an area that you are worried is contaminated and the bees, thousands of them, will do field samples, literally hundreds a day, of almost any pollinating plant within two miles of the hive without disturbing anything” (Kosek).
Kosek stretches his findings to help us understand that bees are only one out of the many insects being effected by human-insect relations:
“From fighting ants to racialized lice to industrious bees, the size, sociality, and ubiquitous presence of insects has made them a source and site for creative and scholarly writing” (Kosek, 653).
Kosek takes bee’s into another perspective, military dogs. Yes, dogs have been on the list of non-human creatures that have been humanized by us. Kosek explains that bees can potentially be even greater than dogs. Bee’s have almost as many olfactory receptor as dogs. Bee’s can also potentially cover a greater area than canines with up to 50,000 individuals per hive (Kosek). Also in an interview with Kristen McCabe in 2008, Kristen states bees need a lot less attention than dogs and they take a lot less time in training, which leads to a lot less money being spent on new technologies. Their ability to detect land mines in low concentrations makes them, “Indispensable agents for future chemical and biological warfare detection teams” (Bromenshenk, 2009).
Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles (2010) is another great source that indicates human-insect relations, it shows how insects became included within the anthropological exploration of human culture.
In Chernobyl, Chapter 3, Raffles introduces Cornelia. Cornelia studies and paints insects that have been deformed by human induced nuclear fall out. Cornelia believes that portraits achieve a break through of the lines between human and insect. “It is a way of achieving multidimensional knowledge of the subject, a way to see it in its biological, phenomenological and political fullness” (Raffles, 26). Cornelia visited places including Osterfarnebo, Sellafield, Gundremmingen, La Hague, and Chernobyl. Although her work is neglected by many due to her amateur status, gender, and sensitivity of the issue, Cornelia explains that insects are effected more in higher concentration of nuclear fallout than in lower concentration. She is shocked at what nuclear fall out physically does to these insects and everyday discovers more damaged plants and bugs from this issue. In Chapter 3, the author, Raffles, explains that since we know that humans are largely negatively effected by radioactivity, that the insects have to be suffering as well. “The international nuclear regulatory agencies-- principally the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation-- Calculate the dangers of radioactivity to human health along with other organisms (insects) using a threshold” (Raffles, 22).
In Chapter 7 of Insectopedia, titled Generosity (the Happy Times), Raffles explains human-insect relations on a more intimate perspective, Shangai Chinese fighting crickets. Cricket fighting is no joke. There are even written records of people fighting crickets in China as early as the Tang dynasty (Raffles). Cricket fights are all broadcasted on TV and remind people of its deep historical and cultural presence, instead of gambling, although it is now ridiculously associated with. Before Shangai was urbanized by society, people live much more intimately with insect and animal life. According to Raffles, many people found companionship in cicadas, which began as great singing companions, to great warriors. An organized market developed for the fighting crickets and reached its height during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
There are many characteristics, along with physical attributes that Chinese cricket “trainers” must take into consideration to determine whether crickets are fighting material. Color is the first standard in which crickets are divided and it helps create a humanized identity for the crickets. Chinese fighting crickets can be yellow, red, black, white, qing (purple and green). For example, yellow crickets are said to be most aggressive, but the qing cricket are more strategic, which is proven by the annual list of cricket champions. Experts also consider the color of the crickets “eyebrows” and the enery of the antennae on the cricket. The insects skin must be dry, and delicate, similar to a baby’s skin. The best fighters are said to walk swift and easy. Raffles was told repeatedly that judging a crickets condition requires deep deep knowledge.
It takes two-weeks to train the crickets to be ready for “fighting season”. Trainers, are perhaps the most knowledgable about the insects. It is the trainers responsibility to develp the crickets “fighting spirit” (Raffles, 84). This essential attribute is revealed only at the moment that the crick enters the arena to fight. A cricket can physically look like a champion but can turn out to lack their fighting spirit in competition. According to Master Fang, a cricket fighting museum director explains, “It is the task of the trainer to build up the crickets strength with foods appropriate to its stage of growth and individual needs, to respond to its sicknesses, develop its physical skills, cultivate its virtues, overcome its natural aversion in light, and habituate it to new, alien surroundings” (Raffles, 84). Fang also says that the trainer must create the environment in which the cricket can be genuinely happy because a cricket knows when it is loved and when it is being well taken cared of. The cricket should respond with loyalty, courage, obedience, and it will be quietly content. The trainers are responsible for taking careful notes about the crickets health and to consider the symptoms of ill-health. The trainers provide the crickets purified water and home-cooked foods.
The highlight of most people’s life in China is “cricket season”. These are the “happy times” and encourage cricket culture. Cricket season is so popular that it is impossible to find a ticket for the rail road during this time. According to Raffles, 100,000 Shanghainese attend the cricket fighting event, along with 500,000 people from Eastern China. Cricket fighting has also helped the economy drastically. Families go out and collect thousands and thousands of crickts to sell, this is how they would make much needed income. Cricket fighting became a source for gambling. Huge bets were made on the fights. 300 million yaun flows just from the fights alone. To my amazement, there are millionare cricket lovers. These are the guys that come in and pay 10,000 yaun for just one general cricket. Once the buyers arrive at villages where the crickets are sold, they almost immediately buy tables from the villagers, along with chair, and herbal teas. They are attacked by villagers putiing cricket pots up there noses, telling them to pick their crickets. Crickets range in price, some are very cheap while others are more expensive. The cricket fights became home to gamblers, and even traders who would have them lodge in their own homes. “The happy times are here again. While they last, the money flows, the people travel, and the insects circulate” (Raffles, 94).
Nonetheless, “cricket fighting is a spiritual activity, a discipline of man and animal” (Raffles, 94). In Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles, cricket fighting is somewhat similar to a very familiar sport, boxing. Once a cricket appears to tire during a fight, trainers get to pump up the crickets by brushing them with different techniques. If they collapse it is due to loss of spirit and the referee call an end to the fight. The cricket that ends up losing immediately finishes his carreer. Cricket fighting in Raffles’ own Insectopedia, shows human-insect relationships in a way that was never imagineable and brought insects and humans closer than ever.
The Infested Mind, a book by Jeffrey Lockwood, shows the relationships insects and humans and how us humans are using insects as warfare. Insects have been used in our wars in effort to defeat other humans. In World War ll the Japanese killed more than four hundred thousand people with cholera-coated flies and plague-infected fleas. Other research projects that took place during World War ll resulted in millions and millions of mosquitos and beetles “deployed” to infest crops, soldiers, and civilians. The United States Entomological Warfare decision at Fort Detrick weaponized yellow fever mosquitos during the Cold War (Lockwood, 122). The Emir of Buchara used beetles to eat the flesh of his prisoners. Scientists are busy engineering insects to produce lethally flawed offspring. “For better or worse, our biologies (humans and insects) are interdependent” (Lockwood, 159).
Learning about human-insect relations is far from easy. To learn and be knowlegable about the subject you have to keep an open mind, and realize that we are connected to insects in more ways than just physically. Since, the Cro-Magnon days to present day, insects continue to affect our daily lives. The context that I read in order to create this literary analysis make me see insects in an entirely different way. “If animals are human Others, insects are the Others of animals, intimately involved in our lives but much maligned. Insects are powerful sits and sources for the production of human nature” (Kosek, 653).
Reflection:
Writing this Literary Analysis was not an easy task for me. I was limited to what I had access to about the subject. I used writing as a process in my development of this paper. The Peer Review helped me a lot, Dalton helped me find the right angle. At first I wanted to focus my paper on how we effect animals, particularly whales, but I didn’t find much interest in it. I really found interest in Jake Kosek’s “Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee”, once I started looking into bee-human relationships I saw much more information on other insects as well. “Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee” also had a lot of useful citations on human-insect relationships that helped build my paper all together. A lot of research went into this paper, it was hard to access some of the books but I got as much information as I thought was needed. I learned a lot of interesting things about insects that I had never heard before. I think my weakness is the conclusion part of my paper. That’s definitely something I have to work on.