Coal dust in the wind: Interpreting the industrial past of South Wales

Abstract

South Wales was once synonymous with coal, now among the most globally controversial natural resources due to its association with anthropogenic climate change. In the early twentieth century, Wales was the largest worldwide producer of coal, and mines employed more than ten percent of those living in the country. With rapid closure of coal mines between the 1960s and 1980s, Welsh communities lost the main source of their social and economic identity. Thirty years after the era of mass pit closures, industrial tourism attractions throughout the region relate the story of coal’s heritage. With calls for renewed mining gaining traction in many countries, consideration of how coal mining is remembered in South Wales is beneficial to those advocating for a move towards the use of sustainable resources and to scholars interested in the relationship between tourism, place, and memory. An analysis is given of the interpretive discourses presented at the five most prominent coal tourism attractions in Wales, Big Pit National Coal Museum, Rhondda Heritage Park, Cefn Coed Colliery Museum, South Wales Miners’ Museum, and the National Waterfront Museum, complemented with consideration of visitor perceptions at two of the sites. Among the interpretive themes highlighted are: the importance of coal, dangers of coal mining, union activity, the centrality of coal to communities, and the absence of descriptions of coal’s environmental impacts. Visitor engagement with these themes is discussed along with the potential for attractions to impart insight into the broader consequences of coal mining. The positive, often nostalgic, portrayal of coal and the calls for renewed mining within South Wales’ attractions are not complemented with a reckoning of the negative environmental legacy of the resource at the local or global scales.

摘要

南威尔士曾经是煤炭的代名词, 现在是全球最具争议的自然资源之一, 因为它与人为气候变化有关。在二十世纪早期, 威尔士是世界上最大的煤炭产地, 煤矿雇佣了全国10%以上的工人。随着20世纪60年代至80年代煤矿的迅速关闭, 威尔士社区失去了其社会和经济身份的主要来源。在大规模矿井关闭的30年后, 整个地区的工业旅游景点都讲述着煤炭遗产的故事。随着在许多国家重新提倡采矿的呼声日益高涨, 考虑南威尔士的煤矿如何被人们记住, 对那些提倡使用可持续资源的人以及对旅游、地点和记忆之间关系感兴趣的学者都是有益的。本研究利用诠释话语分析, 辅以考虑两个景点的游客感知, 展示出了威尔士五个最突出的煤炭旅游景点：大坑国家煤炭博物馆,朗达遗产公园,赛芬蔻尔德（Cefn Coed）煤矿博物馆,南威尔士矿工博物馆和国家海滨博物馆, 其中凸显的诠释主题包括:煤炭的重要性, 煤矿开采的危险, 工会活动, 煤炭对社区的中心地位, 以及煤炭之环境影响描述的欠缺。文章讨论了游客对这些主题的参与, 以及景点的潜力, 从而深入了解了煤矿开采的广泛后果。对煤炭的正面(往往是怀旧的)描述, 以及对南威尔士景区内重新开矿的呼吁, 并没有辅以对该资源在当地或全球范围内的负面环境遗留问题的清算。

Keywords:

• industrial tourism
• coal mining
• sustainability
• interpretation
• South Wales
• heritage discourses

关键词:

• 工业旅游
• 煤炭开采
• 可持续性
• 诠释;南威尔士；遗产话语

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William R. Price

William R. Price is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Ball State University. He teaches a variety of courses for students in the department’s travel and tourism concentration. His research centers on the geographies of tourism and cultural heritage, with an emphasis on interpretation and development associated with industrial tourism.

Mark Alan Rhodes

Mark Alan Rhodes II is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Michigan Technological University where he teaches in the Department of Social Sciences and advises Industrial Heritage and Archaeology MS and PhD students. His research critically examines the intersections of memory, identity, culture, and landscape, particularly in Wales.