On Behalf of The People: Work, Community, and Class in the British Coal Industry 1947-1994

该项目是对1947年至1994年间英国煤炭工业历史的学术、政治和公众辩论的新干预。考虑到2015年12月英国最后一座深煤矿Kellingley关闭，这项研究显得尤为及时。它借鉴了PI Gildart的经验和学术知识，他在1985年至1992年期间在威尔士做了七年的地下煤矿工人。这项研究将基于在煤田进行的广泛档案工作、全面的口述历史项目、与前矿工和煤矿管理人员的互动、与采矿博物馆的伙伴关系以及开发一个全面的互动网站、博客和巡回展览。它将通过对位于英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士的8个煤矿的详细考察，探索该行业的发展、工作场所文化、行业身份、政治以及个人和集体的经历。比克肖煤矿（兰开夏郡，1830-1992年）、伊辛顿煤矿（达勒姆，1899-1993年）、哈特菲尔德煤矿（约克郡，1916-2015年）、安内斯利-本廷克煤矿（诺丁汉郡，1865-2000年）、马卡姆煤矿（德比郡，1882-1993年）、巴罗尼煤矿（艾尔郡，1910-1989年）、塔煤矿（赛农谷，1864-2008年）和艾尔角煤矿（弗林特郡，1890-1996年）。口述历史项目将设法了解煤矿工人和官员在工作场所、社区和家庭领域的日常经历。这将包括与大约80名参与者进行面谈，并在以前的采矿地点进行大量的社区参与。因此，它代表了对该行业历史的里程碑式的学术干预，通过研究宏观（政府/国家煤炭公司）、中观（煤田）和微观（煤矿/社区/家庭）层面的政策制定、部署和接受。该项目将梳理出八个煤矿及其相关社区中统一和多样化的身份和紧张关系。与目前关于矿业的许多学术研究相反，将特别强调性别、世代、男子气概、妇女气概和区域/民族特征，以及采矿生活的这些方面如何促成个人和集体记忆。该研究将围绕特定主题组织：公有制的政治演变及其对当地社会/政治的影响，职业文化和身份，不同工业关系文化之间的紧张关系及其对组织的影响，地下工作性质的变化，男子气概，性别关系，社区分裂，去工业化，记忆，遗产，以及职业和阶级身份的弹性。按时间顺序，该项目将揭示煤炭工业历史上的关键时刻，如围绕公有制性质的辩论，1972年、1974年和1984/5年的工业纠纷，以及随后在21世纪头20年关闭全国所有深层煤矿。然而，同样重要的是，它将衡量这些事件对矿工、他们的妻子/女朋友、孩子以及煤矿所在的更广泛社区的影响。该项目将超越许多行业历史学家所采用的组织/制度框架，以揭示职业、国家、地方和阶级身份的统一和碎片性。对八个煤矿的全面报道将支持、刺激和宣传对学术界、决策者、学校和英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士三个主要采矿博物馆有用的研究材料。网站和出版的产出将确保该项目在学术和公共领域产生广泛影响。该项目代表了对煤炭工业在塑造战后英国工业地区的身份、政治和文化方面的重要性的重大重新评估。

The project is a new intervention into academic, political, and public debates on the history of the British coal industry between 1947 and 1994. The study is particularly timely given the recent closure of Kellingley in December 2015 the last deep coal mine in Britain. It draws upon both the experiential and academic knowledge of PI Gildart who spent seven years as an underground coal miner in Wales between 1985 and 1992.The research will be based on extensive archival work in the coalfields, a comprehensive oral history project, interaction with former miners and colliery managers, a partnership with mining museums, and the development of a comprehensive interactive website, blog and touring exhibition. It will explore the development of the industry, its workplace cultures, industrial identities, politics, and individual and collective experiences through a detailed examination of eight collieries located in England, Scotland and Wales: Bickershaw Colliery (Lancashire, 1830-1992), Easington Colliery (Durham, 1899-1993), Hatfield Colliery (Yorkshire, 1916-2015), Annesley-Bentinck Colliery (Nottinghamshire, 1865-2000), Markham Colliery (Derbyshire, 1882-1993), Barony Colliery (Ayrshire, 1910-1989), Tower Colliery (Cynon Valley, 1864-2008), and Point of Ayr Colliery (Flintshire, 1890-1996). The oral history project will seek to understand the everyday experiences of coal miners and officials in the workplace, the community and the domestic sphere. This will involve interviews with around 80 participants and substantial community engagement in former mining localities. As such it represents a landmark scholarly intervention into the history of the industry by examining policy development, deployment and reception at macro (Government/NCB), meso (coalfield) and micro (colliery/community/domestic) levels. The project will tease out the unifying and diversifying identities and tensions in the eight collieries and their connected communities. In contrast with much of the existing scholarship on the industry there will be a specific emphasis on gender, generation, masculinity, femininity and regional/national identity and how these aspects of mining life contributed to a sense of individual and collective memory. The research will be organised around particular themes: the political evolution of public ownership and its local social/political impact, occupational culture and identity, the tensions between divergent industrial relations cultures and their impact on organisations, the changing nature of underground work, masculinity, gender relations, community fragmentation, deindustrialisation, memory, heritage, and the resilience of occupational and class identities. Chronologically the project will shed new light on key-moments in the history of the coal industry such as the debates around the nature of public ownership, the industrial disputes of 1972, 1974 and 1984/5 and the subsequent closure of all of the nation's deep mines in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Yet just as importantly it will gauge the impact of these events on miners, their wives/girlfriends, children, and the wider community in which the collieries were located. The project will go beyond the organisational/institutional frameworks adopted by many historians of the industry in order to reveal both the unifying and fragmentary nature of occupational, national, local, and class identity. The comprehensive coverage of the eight collieries, will support, stimulate and publicize research material that will be of use to academics, policymakers, schools, and the three major mining museums of England, Scotland and Wales. The website and published outputs will ensure that the project has broad impact in both the academic and public sphere. The project represents a significant reappraisal of the importance of the coal industry in shaping the identities, politics, and cultures of industrial localities in post-war Britain.