Sense of place among New England commercial fishermen and organic farmers: implications for socially constructed environmental education

Abstract

Given the prominence of sense of place in environmental education curricula, this paper aims to empirically examine and strengthen the conceptual understanding of sense of place. The results and implications are derived from research where five commercial fishermen and five organic farmers from the New England Seacoast region participated in a series of in‐depth phenomenological interviews and observations. This study supports the literature‐based conceptual framework that sense of place is comprised of: (1) ecological knowledge, which leads to ecological identity, (2) social knowledge, which facilitates the development of a social identity, and (3) attachment to the human and non‐human community in a place. Two broad themes that emerged from the data demonstrate how the social context of the human and non‐human community contributes to the development of one’s sense of place.