Excellent Insects: Beekeeping, Silk Farming and the Ecological Struggles of the Enlightenment

Honeybees and silkworms held great, notably physico-theological cachet as ‘virtuous’ animals whose tireless labour, when aptly conjoined with that of humans, would create abundance. In exploring this discourse, my aim is to consider the political-economic dimension of the European Enlightenment writ large. I will combine this approach with a case study of Brandenburg-Prussia to show how insect-farming projects played out on the ground. To elucidate the connections between those two levels – the European and the regional – I will draw on the social history of the clergy and of religious minorities. The project will also explore how efforts to increase beekeeping and build a large silk-farming sector from scratch created ecological dilemmas, especially in colder climates such as Prussia’s. For example, as agricultural expansion chipped away at heathlands and forests, writers and local communities began to lament the loss of natural spaces especially suited for beekeeping. In sum, the story of eighteenth-century beekeeping and silk farming will shed new light on the Enlightenment’s relentless drive to reshape nature.