A text on bees from James Bynon’s Ayt Hdiddu Berber archives

This paper contributes to advancing the knowledge of Moroccan Berber varieties from the Southern Middle Atlas. It focuses on one such variety, namely the one spoken by the Ayt Hdiddu people. It broadens the corpus of Ayt Hdiddu literature available to English-language readers by providing the translation and analysis of a text first appeared in its original Berber version in Bynon (2015). Centred on local beliefs about bees, the text offers ethnographic insights into the Ayt Hdiddu culture, including the notion of bees having a king rather than a queen. The paper also emphasises the value of Bynon’s archives for both linguistic and cultural studies and contributes to the study of Berber ethnolinguistics, particularly within the Southern Middle Atlas region.