The Littorascene: A Neurodivergent-Intertidal Framework for Reading the Littoral

This concept note introduces the littorascene: the convergence of littoral ecology and neurodivergent phenomenology, in which the intertidal zone is read as a sensory, temporal, and cognitive environment by a neurodivergent body. Coined within Critical Neurodivergent Studies (CNS), the littorascene treats the tidal margin not as edge but as a centre with its own formal logic, structured by four properties (threshold, tidality, exposure, deposit) and figured by the rock pool. Where the Anthropocene names human dominance, the littorascene names reciprocity, periodicity, and the partial. The note sets out the concept, its reading orientations, its relation to CNS and to the blue humanities and crip theory, and its situated grounding on Darug Country beside the Parramatta River. It is deposited to establish provenance and a citable definition for the term's further development across scholarly and creative registers.