Relics of the past and symbols of modernity: the cultural practices of coal mining communities in post-war Britain

This article challenges popular representations of post-war British coal mining communities. Such localities are often imagined as displaying cultural practices belonging to a previous age that were subsequently fragmented by the economic and social changes of the 1980s. Such images and tropes have been further reinforced by the somewhat heroic construction of miners as archetypal proletarians in the strike of 1984/5, and through films such as Brassed Off (1996) Billy Elliot (2000) and Pride (2014). Through a focus on cultural activities in miners’ welfare clubs, geographical mobility and holidays/vacations, youth subcultures and music creation and consumption at a number of different colliery sites, it is argued that as well as being bearers of a mythologized industrial past, mining communities were also symbolic of affluence and modernity in the changing cultural landscape of Britain from the 1950s through to the 1990s. The research draws substantially on a material from the archives of the National Coal Board (NCB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and an oral history project that conducted interviews with 96 former miners. It complements recent interventions on the history of mining communities that have sought to unpick the complexities of the rise and fall of British coal.

Citation

Gildart, K., Perchard, A., Millar, G., Curtis, B. (in press) Relics of the past and symbols of modernity: the cultural practices of coal mining communities in post-war Britain. Social History.

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis on [date tbc], available online: [link tbc]. The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.

ISSN

0307-1022

EISSN

1470-1200

Collections

Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences