In the aftermath: Craft beer, neolocalism, and community resilience

Abstract

In disaster recovery, community resilience researchers continue to find social capital and place attachment play critical roles. Gaps remain, however, regarding the role of for-profit firms, which are normally viewed as “extending” organizations. Meanwhile, craft beer scholarship often centers on breweries' capacities to foster place attachment and social capital, often signaled by neolocalism, or intentionality in constructing communal identity. This study leverages a unique research opportunity to observe the before and after processes of place construction in the context of craft beer breweries and disaster recovery in coastal communities. We find the breweries’ neolocalism to be characterized by “liminality,” or the in-between of juxtaposing themes. The sense of place fostered spaces for social capital, aiding brewery patrons' recovery following Hurricane Florence. Rather than extending organizations, these findings suggest neolocalist for-profit firms may help community resilience through their regular tasks of constructing space for communal identity.