New Directions in Coal Mining History and Heritage in Japan and the UK

该项目是对跨国采矿业历史和遗产研究的干预，建立在日本和英国研究人员之间现有联系的基础上，目的是发展长期、可持续的研究合作。日本的煤炭开采历史与英国密切相关，苏格兰商人托马斯·布莱克·格洛弗于1868年创建了日本第一座现代煤矿。在这两个国家，该行业的发展都伴随着更广泛的技术和社会变革。煤炭开采也是工业从战争中复苏的重要推动力。然而，在20世纪的最后几十年里，这两个国家的煤炭行业都在急剧衰落。英国最后一座深井的关闭发生在2015年，而日本国内煤炭行业的大部分在2011年前就已经关闭。在那一年的地震、海啸和核灾难之后，日本的能源导向重新转向煤炭，并计划减少日本对核能的依赖，其他国家正在弥补这一点。然而，这并没有导致国内采矿业的复兴。然而，近年来，通过旅游、遗产运动、社区领导的纪念活动和流行文化，煤矿遗址重新受到关注和普及，并逐渐衰落。这些衰落和重新参与的过程引发了学者们的新兴趣，他们想知道更广泛的公众是如何书写和参与采煤史的。研究人员探索了煤炭行业的发展、其工作场所文化、行业认同、政治以及个人和集体经历，包括采矿社区、矿工的家庭生活、教育和社会流动性。重新审查了官方记录；发现了以前未发现的档案，包括草根收藏和短暂收藏；以及通过口述历史和其他方法创建的新档案。历史资料也通过数字工具变得更容易获取。例如，项目合作伙伴NCMME通过其在线目录提供对数字收藏的访问，AHRC资助的“代表人民”项目正在建立一个广泛的坑相关材料档案，包括照片和口述历史，以便在网上提供。尽管在日本的研究人员和机构方面，类似的发展没有那么深入，但小规模数字化倡议是网络成员与日本文化机构正在进行的工作的核心焦点。日本和英国的关闭后经验也反映出最近对跨国去工业化经验的更广泛兴趣。在这个项目中，我们特别感兴趣的是比较那些生活在矿业社区的人在关闭后的经历，探索Sherry Lee Linkon(2018)在美国的背景下所说的“去工业化的半衰期”，以及这些遗址和社区在多大程度上经历了艾弗里·戈登(Avery Gordon)(2008)所说的“社会闹鬼”。前矿场作为遗产遗址的管理，以及前居民和普通公众如何参与这些遗址，也是遗产专业人士和受影响社区的重要关注点。这些关注构成了NCMME、NUM和GFTU的合作伙伴的工作，苏格兰和威尔士的类似遗产倡议，以及越来越多的煤田社区和遗产组织。在日本，许多地方也采取了主动行动，包括2015年成功申办将Hashima和Miike煤矿列入教科文组织世界遗产名录，以及一些前煤田的地方协会和机构。该项目旨在通过在国家网络之间建立新的联系，分享英国和日本这一新的煤矿历史和遗产学术的最佳实践和创新方法。

This project is an intervention into transnational mining history and heritage research, building on existing contacts between researchers in Japan and the UK with the aim of developing long-term, sustainable research collaboration. The history of coal mining in Japan is intimately connected with the UK, with Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover central in the creation of Japan's first modern coal mine in 1868. In both countries, the evolution of the industry tracked wider technological and social transformations. Coal mining was also a significant driver of industrial recovery from war. Over the last decades of the 20th century, however, the coal industry in both countries was in steep decline. The closure of the last deep mine in the UK occurred in 2015 and much of Japan's domestic coal industry had been shuttered prior to 2011. Following on from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of that year, Japan's energy orientation turned back to coal with plans to decrease Japan's reliance on nuclear energy being compensated for elsewhere. That has not led, however, to a resurgence of domestic mining. Recent years have nevertheless seen a re-engagement with and popularisation of sites of coal mining and its decline through tourism, heritage campaigns, community-led commemorative processes and popular culture. These processes of decline and reengagement have sparked new interest by scholars in how histories of coal mining are both written and engaged with by the broader public. Researchers have explored the development of the coal industry, its workplace cultures, industrial identities, politics and individual and collective experiences, including mining community, miners' family lives, education and social mobility. Official records have been re-examined; previously unexplored archives uncovered, including grassroots and ephemeral collections; and new archives created through oral history and other methodologies. Historical materials are also being made more accessible through digital tools. Project partner NCMME for example, provides access to digital collections through its online catalogue, and the AHRC-funded 'On Behalf of the People' project is building an extensive archive of pit-related materials, including photographs and oral histories, to be made available online. While similar developments are less well advanced in the case of Japanese researchers and institutions, small-scale digitisation initiatives are a core focus of network members' ongoing work with Japanese cultural institutions.The post-closure experience of Japan and the UK also reflects a wider recent interest in transnational experiences of deindustrialisation. In this project we are particularly interested in comparing the post-closure experiences of those who lived in mining communities, to explore what Sherry Lee Linkon (2018) has argued in the US context is the 'half-life of deindustrialization' and the extent to which these sites and communities experience, in Avery Gordon's (2008) terms, from 'social haunting.'Management of former mines as heritage sites and how engagement with these sites is framed for both former residents and the general public are also important focal points for both heritage professionals and affected communities. These concerns structure the work of partners at the NCMME, NUM and GFTU, similar heritage initiatives in Scotland and Wales and the growing number of coalfield community and heritage organisations. In Japan too, initiatives exist across a wide range of locations, including the successful 2015 bid to have the Hashima and Miike coal mines included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, as well as local associations and institutions across a number of former coalfields. This project seeks to share best practice and innovative methodological approaches from this new coal mining history and heritage scholarship in both the UK and Japan by building on the nascent connections between national networks.