Towards Comparative Coalfield Histories

Conference proposal 

Regional conference of the Society for the Study of Labour History to be
held at 
the University of Glamorgan in Spring 2002

Much is familiar about the history of miners, their unions and their
industrial struggles. However, with the demise of trade union and labour
movement histories it could be argued that there is a need for a rethinking
of approaches to the subject. The proposed two-day conference will encourage
one such approach by focussing upon the comparative history of ‘coalfield
societies’ – for long a favourite term of description, but much less
commonly a rigorously defined category of analysis. The University of
Glamorgan, situated at the heart of the South Wales coalfield, will be an
ideal place to examine questions regarding the distinctiveness of coalfield
societies, the similarities that unite coalfields otherwise separated by
time and space, and the differences that mark them out from one another.
Thus, both the singularity and the plurality of the coalfield experience
will be emphasised. Comparisons could either focus on different coalfields
within Britain or they could attempt to put the British experience in an
international context. We would particularly like to encourage comparisons
with European, North American or other coalfields anywhere in the world.
Comparative papers that do not include Britain are also welcome. 

We intend to group some fifteen to twenty papers together into three
separate, although interlocking, strands: ‘communities, ‘identities’ and
‘organizations’.  The different lifeworlds of workplace, neighbourhood,
family and political-organisational sphere have for too long been treated as
separate entitites. This conference aims to present papers which bring these
different realms together and emphasise their connectedness. It wants to
shed some light on the interface between community, identity and
organisation as well as problematise the solidarities and fissures within
and between them. 

Identities
Coalfields and coalfield societies have for long been represented in
distinctive ways. The nature of the work processes, the character of the
social structure of the communities, the topography of coalfields and the
often turbulent histories that unfolded within them, are all factors that
have contributed to strong public images of the world of mining. ‘The
miner’, ‘the miner’s wife’, ‘the mining community’, not to mention ‘the
mine’ itself, are all charged with meaning. Papers that explored the
construction of these, and other, identities would be solicited. Possible
themes for discussion could include:

Identities and work
Impact of unemployment/pit closures
Gender and coalfield identities
Representations of coalfields and coalfield societies (literary and visual)
Coalfield heritage
Identities constructed from within coalfield societies and from without
Historians and the creation of identities

Communities
Historians have become increasingly aware of the importance of ‘place’ in
the development of political, cultural and social patterns. The ‘community’
and the ‘neighbourhood’ have become categories of analysis in their own
right, independent variables in the historical process. This session aims to
explore the comparative history of coalfield communities and neighbourhoods
focussing on themes including:

Housing in the coalfields (development of, ownership patterns, spatial
relationship to the workplace, etc.)
Sociability in the neighbourhood (clubs, institutes, pubs, streets, etc.)
Transport and communication links
Migration
Gender relations
Family
The topography of mining towns and villages
The social structure of coalfields 
The role of the middle class in mining communities
>From frontier townships to civic settlements: the development of the mining
community
Pit disasters, rituals of mourning and remembrance
Strikes and lockouts: a cultural and social history

Organizations
Perhaps most is known about the organizations which miners formed and
participated in. Trade unions in particular have attracted the attention of
generations of labour historians. However, the comparative approach to trade
union history is still in its infancy, and there are many other
organizations (cultural and political) which have generally gone unremarked.
Possible themes for discussion could include:

The death of trade union history? Rethinking the history of miners’ unions
Political parties and the coalfield experience
Coalowners’ associations
Voluntary organizations in the coalfields
Women and organized labour in the coalfields

Proposals for papers are requested by the end of this year. Please contact -

Prof. Stefan Berger
Professor of History
Dept. of History
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Glamorgan
Pontypridd CF37 1DL
Tel.: 01443-482554 (direct)
        01443-482353 (secretary)
Fax: 01443-482138
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

______________________________________________

Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen, 
Pembrokeshire, Wales  SA66 7RE.    
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599

University of Exeter - Department of History
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]

Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.  
See http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/mining-history/  for details.

Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/

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