Contested Spaces: London and the 1984–5 Miners' Strike

Diarmaid Kelliher
2017 Twentieth Century British History  
2 during and after the strike. 4 As well as attesting to the centrality of local experiences, the Onllwyn welfare hall highlights how strike activists relied upon and developed networks of solidarity that extended significantly beyond their immediate locality. This article builds on recent research emphasising the importance of space and place for understanding the history of protest, social movements and trade unionism. 5 It is particularly influenced by geographical work on translocality and
more » ... he relational construction of place. 6 Such approaches emphasise how 'places, in fact, are always constructed out of articulations of social relations', including the connections of political parties, trade unions and social movements, 'which are not only internal to that locale but which link them to elsewhere'. 7 The concept of 'translocality' similarly suggests both an emphasis on the importance of the local, but also the multiple ways in which places relate to each other. This avoids versions of cosmopolitanism that lack an interest in localities, while also challenging parochial definitions of place. 8 Relationships between localities of course vary over time, and accounts of the construction of translocal solidarities can help historicise our understanding of the development and form of connections between places. This article focuses on the 1984/5 miners' strike as an exceptional event that allowed for the emergence of new relationships between London and the 4
doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwx029 pmid:29186626 fatcat:fdzbttlxajbmzknbc42v7vllou