Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
||
| Reference Number | ES/S013237/1 | |
| Title | New Directions in Coal Mining History and Heritage in Japan and the UK | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Not Energy Related 70%; Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Coal, Other Coal) 30%; |
|
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | OTHER 75%; AREA STUDIES (Asian Studies) 25%; |
|
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 75%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy) 25%; |
|
| Principal Investigator |
Dr M Pendleton No email address given East Asian Studies University of Sheffield |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | ESRC | |
| Start Date | 01 January 2019 | |
| End Date | 31 May 2020 | |
| Duration | 17 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £43,484 | |
| Industrial Sectors | ||
| Region | Yorkshire & Humberside | |
| Programme | ESRC - FIC: SSG Pump-Priming with Japan | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Dr M Pendleton , East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield (99.998%) |
| Other Investigator | Professor K Gildart , Faculty of Social Science, University of Wolverhampton (0.001%) Professor N Shimazaki , UNLISTED, Waseda University, Japan (0.001%) |
|
| Industrial Collaborator | Project Contact , Waseda University, Japan (0.000%) |
|
| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | The project has the following general objectives:- To enhance existing small-scale interactions between researchers on coal mining histories and heritage in Japan and the UK into a programme of sustainable research collaboration- To identify new directions in coal mining history and heritage research in the two countries, including new research topics and approaches and innovative uses of digital humanities methodologies, public/community archives and oral histories- To interrogate and enhance academic and public understanding of the histories of coal mining industries and communities in Japan and the UK- To critically assess heritage projects around mining in the national and international contexts of heritage recognition- To promote Japanese language research to English audiences, and vice versa, through processes of genuinely collaborative writing and translationThese overarching objectives will be achiveved by connecting up the established networks of coal mining researchers within each national context, structured around the Japan Association for the study of Former CoalFields (JAFCOF), of which CI Shimazaki is a long-standing core member, and the existing AHRC-funded project, 'On Behalf of the People: Work, Community and Class in the British Coal Industry, 1947-1994', which CI Gildart leads. Small-scale interactions exist, but these have not yet been consolidated into a programme of collaboration and research exchange. Gildart and Shimazaki met in 2011 at a workshop on Japanese and British mining histories. PI Pendleton has existing connections into both groups, through co-editing History Workshop Journal with Dr Perchard (CI on the Gildart project) and through his networks in Japanese Studies. Both networks also have extensive links into mining museums, heritage organisations and groups representing former miners in both the UK and Japan. Participation from representatives of these groups will also be a key feature of our activities.The core activity of the project will involve two workshops and site visits to be held in South Yorkshire in June of 2019 and Tokyo and regional Japan in December of 2019. These workshops will allow eight researchers from each national context to present current projects, focusing on how their scholarship is transforming research on the history and heritage of coal mining, and to seek critical feedback on their work. Site visits to former coal mines in each location will allow for comparisons on how the histories of these sites are represented and communicated to diverse audiences. The sequential nature of the workshops will allow for revision based on feedback at the first workshop, with revised papers forming the basis of co-edited volumes to be published in both Japanese and English. We also expect these intensive periods of discussion and collaboration to lead to fruitful conversations about further research collaboration. | |
| Abstract | 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 | |
| Publications | (none) |
|
| Final Report | (none) |
|
| Added to Database | 08/01/19 | |
