Newswise — There is emerging evidence from both Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) that cultural production can boost the economies of post industrial communities, according to a team of researchers from the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University.
Drs. Judy and Larry Haiven, who both teach in the Management Department at one of Canada's leading business schools, are currently researching how cultural capital accrued through tradition and maintained by performance, festival and exhibition, can breathe new life into economically depressed communities.
The Haivens are involved in a three-year research project entitled, "Culture and Regeneration in Former Mining and Steelmaking Communities: A Comparison of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada and County Durham, UK." Other partners in the project include David Wray and Dr. Carol Stephenson, both professors at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK.
"We're mining for cultural production-- literally," says Dr. Larry Haiven during an interview.
Dr. Judy Haiven states during an interview, "The goal of our research is to explore the extent to which life in economically struggling communities can be improved through the use of cultural production."
While they have been busy visiting former mining and steelmaking communities in Nova Scotia, they recently traveled to County Durham, which in its heyday boasted hundreds of coal mines and many steel mills.
Nipper MacLeod, former Cape Breton Island miner and member of the Men of the Deeps Choir, also joined them on the trip overseas.Funding for Nipper's trip was provided by The Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.
During their visit, they also participated in "The Miners' Strike 20 Years On: Challenges and Changes Conference," a week long event hosted by Northumbria University. The international Conference focused on the issues that grew out of the famous Miners' Strike of 1984 in England, and the changes in employment that have occurred since then.
Also attending the Conference was pop star Billy Bragg, who is considered a national treasure in the global music industry. Bragg and Nipper - both on guitar - played together in a fundraising gala in the historic city of Durham.
Drs. Judy and Larry Haiven and Nipper had the unique opportunity to meet with Bragg.
In the two decades of his career, Bragg has certainly made an indelible mark on British music as he is known as perhaps the most stalwart guardian of the radical and dissenting tradition of folk music laced with progressive politics.
The Conference held special importance for Bragg, as it did for Drs. Judy and Larry Haiven, and Nipper, too.
Bragg recalls the 1984 Miners' Strike and the impact it had on him and his songwriting. After seeing how the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher was changing the fabric of British society, particularly with the decimation of the mining communities, Bragg's songs became more overtly political. He became a fixture at political rallies and benefits, particularly during the 1984 Miners' Strike.
"It really took the Miners' Strike in 1984 to make me more into sort of an ideological songwriter, in the sort of traditional, Woody Guthrie sense," says Bragg during an interview.
"In the 1980s there was a titanic struggle going on between the Thatcher government and more progressive forces that had come to a head in the Miners' Strike"¦ Doing benefits for the miners', I had met a lot of other like-minded musicians and we said: 'Well, what can we do about this?'"
Nipper too is familiarized with the Miners' Strike in 1984 and of course the closure of the mines in Cape Breton, where he once worked. These events have influenced his music career, to a large degree.
"I was surprised at how massive the layoffs in the British mines were and how devastating they were to the mining communities in the UK," says Nipper during an interview.
"I experienced what happened in Cape Breton and the closures in Britain were just as painful, but had an even larger impact. The miners' over there are fighting for a lost generation."
He says that meeting Bragg was neat, and so was taking in the conference, along with touring County Durham.
"The exchange was wonderful," he says. "I found out from this trip that miners are the same all over the world. There's a mining culture that's similar: They are hard-working; they enjoy living; they enjoy culture."
The closure of the mines in Nova Scotia during the twentieth century has also caused its share of unrest and anxiety among citizens, according to Drs. Judy and Larry Haiven, both of whom have studied labour issues in Canada extensively.
"Our three year project aims to identify the responses of post-industrial communities, in Canada and the UK, to unemployment, social exclusion and poverty. Our work will also assess how community identity, culture and tradition can be used as a resource to combat social exclusion and aid economic regeneration," says Dr. Larry Haiven.
Dr. Judy Haiven states, "Additionally, our research will assist participating communities to reflect on their origins, and determine their future needs. We hope to help identify possible ways to rebuild communities shattered by the loss of industries such as mining, steel-making and fishing."
Both professors indicate that in Nova Scotia, preliminary research suggests that some post-industrial communities are attempting to revive local economies through the production of culture. Here, cultural production, once on the margins, is coming to play a major part in the economic activity in places such as in Cape Breton, and in other parts of the region where mining and fishing communities once flourished.
"Following the closure of the mining industry, many cultural enterprises have emerged from strong communities, nourished within family, neighbour, co-operative and communal networks," says Dr. Larry Haiven.
He adds, "Where once there were working mines there are now mining museums, miners' choirs, and plays and novels about mining. Tourism, now seen as key to the economic regeneration of these communities, will be strengthened by the 'production of culture' and the consequential emergence of the 'cultural tourist.'"
Dr. Judy Haiven explains that in the now redundant coalfield of County Durham, the cultural regenerative process appears to be social rather than economic, with emphasis placed on maintaining the industrial heritage of the ex-mining communities.
"This is being achieved through attempts to ensure that this unique heritage, grounded in solidaristic and inclusive social networks, is not lost to succeeding generations," she says. "Through participation in the annual Durham Miners' Gala; the creation of small and community based and managed museums and internet web sites; the refurbishment of old community Banners; and the purchase of replacement of lost Banners, some communities are seeking to use their cultural and traditional heritage as a form of emotional regeneration, which is very interesting."
Unlike many other research projects in post-industrial societies, the researchers at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's and at Northumbria University are interested not primarily in the regeneration of capital, but in the regeneration of people. This is clearly an under-researched area, and an international collaborative and comparative research project into the experiences of such communities will offer insights into the effectiveness of cultural and emotional regeneration in maintaining social cohesion and social inclusion, and how cultural and emotional regeneration can assist, even drive, local economic and social regeneration.
Drs. Judy and Larry Haiven are organizing a conference entitled "Mining Culture: A Symposium on Mining, Music, Film, Literature, Art and Museums." The event, planned for early June of 2005, is expected to attract a large number of academics and the general public alike. For more information on the Symposium, visit: http://husky1.smu.ca/~lhaiven/mining_culture_proposal.htm
This project is one component of a larger project, "Restructuring Work & Labour in the New Economy," which examines how cultural production supplants older industries and its impact on economic growth and social well-being in Nova Scotia. The research alliance has received $900,000.00 for various projects from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada and under SSHRC's "Initiative on the New Economy Research Alliance Programme." Dr. Larry Haiven has already been awarded $20,550.00 for his research via the alliance. Other supporters of the trip by the Haivens and Nipper's to the UK include: Saint Mary's University; The British Academy; The Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage; the Canadian Labour Congress (Atlantic Regional Office); the Cape Breton District Labour Council; and, the Sydney & District General Workers Union, Local 1509, CLC. The Cape Breton Regional Municipality is also supporting the research into Cape Breton Island.
Saint Mary's University is known for its community outreach projects, both in Canada and around the world. Saint Mary's University, founded in 1802, is home to one of Canada's leading business schools, a Science Faculty widely known for its cutting-edge research, a comprehensive and innovative Arts Faculty and a new Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.
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