Teaching industrial history after deindustrialisation: ‘Tracks of the Past’ in the Scottish coalfields

Gibbs, E. and Henderson-Bone, S. (2022) Teaching industrial history after deindustrialisation: ‘Tracks of the Past’ in the Scottish coalfields. In: Simmons, R. and Simpson, K. (eds.) Education, Work and Social Change in Britain’s Former Coalfield Communities: The Ghost of Coal. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 149-171. ISBN 9783031107917 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-10792-4_8)

Abstract

In 1987, workers in the Lanarkshire settlement of Tannochside took on an American business giant. They occupied the town’s tractor factory in an attempt to prevent its closure and the loss of 1,200 jobs at the hands of Caterpillar corporation. It ended after 103 days with workers accepting improved redundancy terms. Caterpillar’s plant was built atop a derelict mining village during the late 1950s. The life of the factory, and not just its closure, should therefore be understood in the prism of deindustrialisation. Former members of the occupation’s Joint Occupation Committee established the Caterpillar Workers’ Legacy Group to mark the thirtieth anniversary. This led to the Carnegie Trust-funded project, ‘Tracks of the Past’ in 2018. Academics from the University of the West of Scotland worked with the Legacy Group to devise a series of secondary school lessons themed around the occupation and questions of economic justice in a democratic society. The occupation and industry were unknown to many pupils. This chapter assesses the value of teaching industrial history after deindustrialisation. It suggests that cultural distance from industry can be overcome through authentic shared investment in place and intergenerational interaction.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gibbs, Dr Ewan
• Authors: Gibbs, E., and Henderson-Bone, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9783031107917
• Published Online: 18 October 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy