ABSTRACT
In Chapter 11 of the Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity, Love-Nichols analyzes the ecocultural identity of hunters and fishers, or sportsmen, in the United States, a community which is both politically conservative and committed to environmental conservation. The author examines how the sportsman ecocultural identity both challenges and constitutes the sociopolitical environment in which it exists, and highlights ways sportsmen draw on this identity to impede and build coalitions for environmental action. The chapter draws on fieldwork conducted in rural southwestern Colorado, including ethnographic interviews with sportsmen, participant observation in a hunter education course, and data from publicly available media produced by and for sportsmen about environmental issues, finding that sportsmen draw on linguistic, cultural, and environmental affiliations – specifically a perceived deep connection to the ‘outdoors’ and a commitment to conservation – to construct the sportsman ecocultural identity. The author’s analysis of this identity challenges the erasure of variation in environmental practices and ideologies within politically conservative sectors and suggests some possibilities for regenerative futures.
