TY - JOUR
KW - Economic colonialism
KW - Globalization
KW - Industrial paternalism
KW - intangible heritage
KW - Mining history
AU - J.M. Cano Sanchiz
AB - The cultural context generated by the mining industry works as an unifying force in mining enclaves, as well as an element distinguishing them from surrounding territories. Mining culture, formed as the common answer to the circumstances produced by the mine, is thereby a hallmark of mining communities. Several agents participated in the formation of this identity system, such as the working conditions, the relationship with death, the sense of class, progress, economic colonialism or the labour movement. This paper aims to track the role played by these and other elements in the construction of a specific social group: the contemporary mining people in the South of the Iberian Peninsula, as the result of hybridism between globalization and endemism. In doing so, we combine archaeological and anthropological methods through a wide range of sources of information: material culture, oral memory, written/visual historical documents and tourist guides and brochures. This paper seeks to shed new light on the conceptualisation and characterisation of mining villages as a contemporary social unit in the industrialised world. It studies a sample of mining enclaves in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (without neglecting the international context), including villages located in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Huelva, Seville and southern Portugal), Sierra Morena (Seville, Cordoba, Jaen), Sierra Almagrera (Almeria) and the Cartagena-La Unión Mining District (Murcia). The study follows a clearly cultural approach, over and above such aspects as the economy or technology, which are usual in traditional historiographies of mining. In short, it attempts a descriptive approach to the cultural context created by industrial mining through its physical and intangible manifestations: architecture, migration, colonialism, ideology, religion, tradition, gastronomy, fashion, folklore, daily life, sport and leisure. To achieve this, from the methodological point of view, the text is characterised by its transversal nature and the complementary application of typical tools of such disciplines as Industrial Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology and Ethnography. Through this study, it can be concluded that mining culture functions as a differentiating element, while the mine is defined as a territorial item with powerful spatial demarcation in scenic, economic and social terms. One of the most interesting characteristics of the mine as a habitat is, therefore, its ability to generate a different (and distinctive) social collective through the combination of pre-existing cultural traits. Industrial mining enclaves are thus a place for meeting and confrontation, where the native population lives together with immigrants, the autochthonous material culture coexists with that from outside, and local traditions alternate with foreign customs. The ultimate goal of this study is to identify mining culture as a factor (or product) of globalisation, although it does not aspire to go beyond opening a topic of discussion. Indeed, the creation of international networks by capital, the characteristic mobility of mine workers (labourers, office workers and engineers) and the transfer of technology facilitated the homogenization of economic and technical systems which was also reflected in the social realm: the production of a specific cultural context (without forgetting the particularities of each region) in relation with mining villages. In the southern Iberian Peninsula this has even survived the end of mining activity and can still be detected as a hallmark of those communities.
DO - 10.21630/maa.2014.65.15
N1 - Publisher: Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi
N2 - The cultural context generated by the mining industry works as an unifying force in mining enclaves, as well as an element distinguishing them from surrounding territories. Mining culture, formed as the common answer to the circumstances produced by the mine, is thereby a hallmark of mining communities. Several agents participated in the formation of this identity system, such as the working conditions, the relationship with death, the sense of class, progress, economic colonialism or the labour movement. This paper aims to track the role played by these and other elements in the construction of a specific social group: the contemporary mining people in the South of the Iberian Peninsula, as the result of hybridism between globalization and endemism. In doing so, we combine archaeological and anthropological methods through a wide range of sources of information: material culture, oral memory, written/visual historical documents and tourist guides and brochures. This paper seeks to shed new light on the conceptualisation and characterisation of mining villages as a contemporary social unit in the industrialised world. It studies a sample of mining enclaves in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (without neglecting the international context), including villages located in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Huelva, Seville and southern Portugal), Sierra Morena (Seville, Cordoba, Jaen), Sierra Almagrera (Almeria) and the Cartagena-La Unión Mining District (Murcia). The study follows a clearly cultural approach, over and above such aspects as the economy or technology, which are usual in traditional historiographies of mining. In short, it attempts a descriptive approach to the cultural context created by industrial mining through its physical and intangible manifestations: architecture, migration, colonialism, ideology, religion, tradition, gastronomy, fashion, folklore, daily life, sport and leisure. To achieve this, from the methodological point of view, the text is characterised by its transversal nature and the complementary application of typical tools of such disciplines as Industrial Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology and Ethnography. Through this study, it can be concluded that mining culture functions as a differentiating element, while the mine is defined as a territorial item with powerful spatial demarcation in scenic, economic and social terms. One of the most interesting characteristics of the mine as a habitat is, therefore, its ability to generate a different (and distinctive) social collective through the combination of pre-existing cultural traits. Industrial mining enclaves are thus a place for meeting and confrontation, where the native population lives together with immigrants, the autochthonous material culture coexists with that from outside, and local traditions alternate with foreign customs. The ultimate goal of this study is to identify mining culture as a factor (or product) of globalisation, although it does not aspire to go beyond opening a topic of discussion. Indeed, the creation of international networks by capital, the characteristic mobility of mine workers (labourers, office workers and engineers) and the transfer of technology facilitated the homogenization of economic and technical systems which was also reflected in the social realm: the production of a specific cultural context (without forgetting the particularities of each region) in relation with mining villages. In the southern Iberian Peninsula this has even survived the end of mining activity and can still be detected as a hallmark of those communities.
SP - 249
EP - 268
TI - Miners. The cultural context generated by the mining industry (19th-20th centuries) in the southern Iberian Peninsula
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84930972594&doi=10.21630%2fmaa.2014.65.15&partnerID=40&md5=42800f23babf258804c8971555489a21
VL - 65
SN - 11322217 (ISSN)
ER -