Coal mining was a horrific occupation, rife with physical danger, occupational disease and heartless labour exploitation by mine owners. Mining communities were commonly stigmatized and, most notoriously in the year of the Great Strike, vilified and brutalized. Yet for the miners this was a profession that generated tremendous male comraderie and pride in work, close-knit communities, strong families, deep faith, perseverance, and political action in the face of harsh conditions. The most public expression of the miners’ spirit of resistance and action was and still is the Durham Miners Gala, which just celebrated its 135th year. Animated by the glorious banners that traditionally represent the pit village, the “Big Meeting” continues in the absence of the industry that generated it and in the absence of the physical landscape that supported it. This talk introduces the concept of incongruous heritage to understand the seemingly contradictory processes and discourses implicated in the Gala and its survival for more than a century.
Dr Helaine Silverman is Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois and the Director of CHAMP, the Collaborative for Cultural Heritage Management and Policy. She gave the inaugural 2018 Annual Heritage Lecture at the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre and is an Affiliated Member of the CHRC.
