Ellen Saunders Duncan is one of several American Studies undergraduate students to receive a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from the Office of Undergraduate Research for Summer 2015. Duncan’s project, “The Human Ecology of Honeybees” is focused on documenting the narratives and work of beekeepers in North Carolina. With more beekeepers than any other state in the country, North Carolina exemplifies a practice that Duncan believes shows North Carolinians’ commitment to the land and sense of place, and serves as a balance between history and innovation. Over the summer, Duncan worked with beekeepers from a range of experiences to document their narratives through both oral history and photography. For her honors thesis, Duncan hopes to develop an interactive presentation of her research.
Congratulations on this huge accomplishment, Ellen! We’ve featured our other undergraduate SURF-grant recipients this week, including Katie Yelton’s ‘Mill Mamas‘ and Karen Seiber’s ‘Visualizing the Red Summer of 1919.’