Deindustrialisation, Work, Labour
The North East of England is a region where the impacts of deindustrialisation have been and continue to be most strongly felt. Naturally, much of our research interrogates the gaps between macro-economic change and the lived experience of those most affected by job losses. Deindustrialisation, Work, and Labour have been enduring interests for the Collective since its inception in 2018. There are three prominent strands within this theme:
- Experiences of loss and resistance
- Cultural and community aftermath
- Sensory and embodied memory
Dr Kate Wilson’s chapter in the Routledge Companion to Literature and Feminism (2024) focused on the Castlemilk Women Writers and Readers Group, combining oral history with the group’s anthology to analyse how class and gender compounded for working-class women in a Glasgow housing scheme. Wilson’s 2025 Studies in Scottish Literature article on community writers’ groups in Glasgow used oral history interviews alongside self-published community writing to show how working-class people in 1980s Glasgow used adult education and grassroots literary production to process, record, and contest deindustrialisation as it was happening. Sue Bradley’s (2021) veterinary oral history research, with its analysis of tactile professional knowledge and the transmission of embodied expertise, connects this sub-theme to professional life history work beyond the traditional boundaries of labour history.
Relevant projects
Current:
The Keelmen's Hospital & Remembering the Past
Past:
Preserving Byker's Vibrant Past with Oral History
Deindustrial Pasts & Present Inequalities
Collaboration with UNITE the Union