Every hundred years as the story goes two angels wonder out loud whether the bees are still
swarming. For as long as the bees are swarming the angels are reassured the world holds
together. Still the tale suggests the angels live in anxious anticipation of the End. Local
beekeepers in Bosnia and Herzegovina retell the old tale with growing unease as their
honeybees weather the ground effects of climate change. Beekeeping in the End Times relates
extreme weather events and quieter disasters that have been altering honey ecologies across
Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2014. While world-wide endangerment of pollinators and bees in
particular has been the subject of much global concern effects of climate change on the
indispensable honeybees remain understudied. Drawing on a five-year long study the book
suggests that local apiarists' field observations resonate with many climate biologists'
concerns and speculations about the future of plant-bee relations on the warming planet. Local
practice also adds to the record complex and puzzling trends that make honey scarce in
otherwise lush biodiverse landscapes. To Bosnian Muslims honeybees are more than pollinators.
They are inspired beings whose honey is another form of divinely revelation. To appreciate the
meaning of honeybees and to grasp the dire ecological catastrophe underway Jaésareviâc reads
contemporary environmental writings and Sufi texts she listens to the seasoned beekeepers and
collects local wisdom tales. From start to finish Jaésareviâc pores over key Islamic texts
the Quran and the Hadith and their popular retellings. The Islamic end-times lore the book
proposes holds surprising lessons on how to live and strive in the 'not yet ' stalling the
apocalypse
