Intersectional Emancipation for Biocultural Conservation: An Exploratory Neolocalism Framework

Abstract

Ketchikan, Alaska, is a coastal gateway community that has experienced rapid changes, unearthing visceral realizations of biocultural vulnerabilities and bioregional interdependencies. Bordering the Tongass National Forest, the community embodies and endures complicated historicized impacts from neoliberalism, reproduced today by mass cruise tourism. During the COVID-19 global lockdown, remote field work was conducted employing qualitative, in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The rich data illuminated embodied resident perceptions of community changes and bioregional sensoryscapes. Social-ecological reproduction theory is extended by conceptualizing complex interrelationships involving intersectional emancipation, neolocalism, and biocultural conservation. Emerging from the findings, the authors present an exploratory neolocalism framework including the following seven-indicators: resilient governance, diverse economies, biocultural conservation, intersectional engagement, biocultural identity, emancipatory zoning, and decomposition. This framework is intended to support regenerative tourism planning that resists oppression from corporate domination through neolocal resilience. This research articulates issues of community agency, social-ecological reproduction, and intersectional emancipation for biocultural conservation.