A Permanent State of Decay: Contrived Dereliction at Heritage Mining Sites
- Submitting institution
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Royal College of Art(The)
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Oakley4
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Reanimating Industrial Spaces: Conducting Memory Work in Postindustrial Societies
- Publisher
- Left Coast Press
- ISBN
- 9781611321685
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This book chapter outlines the development and current geographical extent of mining heritage as a social phenomenon and considers features typical to heritage mining site presentation. Oakley identifies similarities between modes of site presentation given alternative names and rationales, arguing that these rely on a common visual aesthetic of decay that is actively but covertly maintained for audiences. The author coins a neologism for this practice: contrived dereliction, pinpoints the key features of this distinct mode of presentation, the rationale behind its appeal to visitors, and the practical limitations to its viability.
The material presented was generated through site visits to preserved mining sites and related heritage destinations in California, Alaska, Sweden, Cornwall and Wales between 2008 and 2014. The primary research methods employed were participant-observation and informal discussions with staff on site, complemented by digital and library research, including examinations of site management plans, oral history records and WHS inscriptions, as well as academic texts.
The publication of the chapter resulted in requests to present its findings at academic events, including UCL’s Institute of Archaeology 2016 public seminar series. Oakley was also invited to give a presentation on the topic at the Mining Temporalities panel at the 2016 European Association of Social Anthropologists Biennial Conference in Milan and subsequently to deliver a paper at the 2017 EASA Anthropology of Mining Network workshop in Utrecht. The argument Oakley developed in this presentation extended the relevance of the concept of contrived dereliction by considering its role in social narratives. This work formed the basis of a new journal article: ‘After Mining: contrived dereliction, dualistic time and the moment of rupture in the presentation of mining heritage’, published in a 2018 special edition of The Extractive Industries and Society entitled Mining Temporalities: Extractive Industries and the Politics of Time.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
