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'That rather sinful city of London': the coal miner, the city and the country in the British cultural imagination c. 1969-2014

Arnold, J�rg

'That rather sinful city of London':  the coal miner, the city and the country in the British cultural imagination c. 1969-2014 Thumbnail


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Abstract

The article proceeds from the observation that in the contemporary British cultural imagination, the figure of the coal miner tends to be presented as the embodiment of anti-urban and organicist qualities that in continental Europe are more commonly associated with the peasantry. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Raymond Williams, the article traces the genealogy of this ‘structure of feeling’ back to the time of the miners’ strike of 1984/85 and beyond into the 1970s. It argues that the ‘ruralised’ miner was one imaginary in a complex power struggle over the ‘real’ identity of miners that was waged between the industry and the state, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Coal Board (NCB), and crucially, inside the NUM itself. ‘Ruralisation’ was most vigorously promoted by union militants who sought to displace an alternative vision, championed jointly by the Coal Board and Union moderates, which had situated miners firmly at the heart of industrial modernity. It was only in the wake of the defeat of the miners in the 1984/5 strike, and during the subsequent cultural reworking of this strike, that this structure finally gained dominance.

Citation

Arnold, J. (2020). 'That rather sinful city of London': the coal miner, the city and the country in the British cultural imagination c. 1969-2014. Urban History, 47(2), 292-310. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926819000555

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 18, 2019
Online Publication Date Jun 7, 2019
Publication Date 2020-05
Deposit Date Jan 18, 2019
Publicly Available Date Jan 18, 2019
Journal Urban History
Print ISSN 0963-9268
Electronic ISSN 1469-8706
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 47
Issue 2
Pages 292-310
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926819000555
Keywords Geography, Planning and Development; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); History; Urban Studies
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1481755
Publisher URL https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/that-rather-sinful-city-of-london-the-coal-miner-the-city-and-the-country-in-the-british-cultural-imagination-c-19692014/27893BDA64E3EFA7AA2C7F5E05876C9D
Additional Information © Cambridge University Press 2019
Contract Date Jan 18, 2019

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