Boom – Crisis – Heritage. King Coal and the Energy Revolutions after 1945

14. – 16. MArch 2018

Boom – Crisis – Heritage.
King Coal and the Energy Revolutions after 1945

(Foto: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum | montan.dok)

The conference in March 2018 is based on the interdisciplinary research project „From Boom to Crisis – German Coal Mining after 1945“. It is our aim to consider the multilayered processes of social, economic and cultural change triggered by transitions of energy regimes from international and comparative perspectives.

Rather than restricting our scope to a study of coal mining, the conference will also cover coal’s competitors as well as consumers and users of various forms of energy. This broad sweep is designed to enable the presumed existence of unique paths of development and their specific regional and national characteristics.

The conference explores topics in two subject areas.

One investigates the economic, social and technological development of the coal mining industry and related industries. In this theme we consider contemporary responses to the upheaval within the energy sector after 1945 and analyse the transformation of the World Wide Energy Market from the point of view of technological, environmental, economic, corporate, social or scientific history.

The other explores the tangible and intangible legacy of coal mining. We would like to put a spotlight on culturalization and touristification processes in relict energy landscapes as well as subsequent reuse.

The international conference is organized by the Mining History Section and the Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (montan.dok), Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum.

The conference and the research project „From Boom to Crisis – German Coal Mining after 1945“ are funded by the RAG foundation and will be organised in cooperation with the Department of History, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and the Institut für Industriearchäologie, Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte (IWTG) der TU Bergakademie Freiberg.

Schedule

Wednesday 14 Mar

11:00 am – 12:30 pm	Guided Tour Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (Entrance DBM+)
12:00 pm – 01:00 pm	Registration
01:00 pm – 01:30 pm	Opening address
01:30 pm – 02:30 pm	Keynote I Chair: Juliane Czierpka, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Per Högselius, KTH Royal Institute of Technology: The European Energy System in an Age of Globalization Discussion
02:30 pm – 02:40 pm	Short break
02:40 pm – 03:50 pm	Section I: Coal Policy and Politics Chair: Dieter Ziegler, Ruhr-Universität Bochum Simon Yin, Hefei University of Technology: Transformation of Coal Industry in China Robert Andrzejczyk, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun: Coal Diplomacy. Polish hard coal in the Scandinavian market (1945-1949) Discussion
03:50 pm – 04:20 pm	Coffee break
04:20 pm – 06:00 pm	Section II: Changing Energies in Regional Perspective I Chair: Nikolai Ingenerf, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Andrea Pokludová & Petr Popelka, University of Ostrava: From the “steel heart of Czechoslovakia” to the postindustrial space. Boom, crisis and cultural heritage of the Ostrava-Karviná mining district (1945-2017) Miles K. Oglethorpe, Industrial Heritage at Historic Environment Scotland: Losing our Mines – Scotland’s Coal Industry in Context Michael Farrenkopf, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum: Short-time rise and decades decline – German hard coal mining after 1945 Discussion
06:00 pm – 06:10 pm	Short break
06:10 pm – 07:20 pm	Section III: Changing Energies in Regional Perspective II. The Case of France Chair: Stefanie van de Kerkhof, Universität Mannheim Alain Beltran, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne: Changing a national energy policy – The case of France during the sixties Douglas Yates, University of Cergy-Pontoise: The French Oil industry and the Corps des Mines. From family firms to national champions to private multinationals Discussion
07:20 pm	Dinner

Thursday 15 Mar

09:00 am – 10:40 am	Section IV: Expectations and Institutions from the 1950s to the 1980s Chair: Daniel Trabalski, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Juliane Czierpka, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum: Ruhr coal and oil. The DKBL and their predictions about the development of the market for energy in West-Germany in the early 1950s Brian Shaev, Leiden University: Coal and Common Market. Consumers, Producers, and Crisis Management in the Early European Parliament, 1954-1964 Henning Türk, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam: From oil to coal? The International Energy Agency (IEA) and international coal policy since the end of the 1970s Discussion
10:40 am – 10:50 am	Short break
10:50 am – 11:50 am	Keynote II Chair: Torsten Meyer, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Timothy LeCain, Montana State University: Mining the Anthropocene. How the Metallic and Mineral Environment Created the Age of Humans Discussion
11:50 am – 01:10 pm	Lunch break
01:10 pm – 02:50 pm	Section V: Environmental History and Industrial Nature Chair: Helmut Maier, Ruhr-Universität Bochum Torsten Meyer, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum: Biofacts – Recultivating post-mining landscapes in the Anthropocene Anna Storm, Stockholm University: Nuclear Fish and (Post-)Industrial Nature Imaginaries Pia Eiringhaus, Institute for Social Movements: Postindustrial Representations of Nature and Region in the Ruhr Area – A Critical Perspective on the Success Story „from Black to Green” Discussion
02:50 pm – 03:20 pm	Coffee break
03:20 pm – 05:00 pm	Section VI: Industrial Heritage Chair: Helmuth Albrecht, TU Bergakademie Freiberg Barry L. Stiefel, College of Charleston: Black Diamond Heritage: A Multinational Comparative Study of Coal Mining Preservation Malte Helfer, University of Luxembourg: The legacy of coal mining – a view on examples in Belgium and France Bruno De Corte, Antwerpen: From Green to Black and back to Green again – The Story of Safeguarding the Coalmining Heritage in the Limburg Area (Belgium) Discussion
05:00 pm – 06:30 pm	Dinner
06:30 pm – 08:00 pm	Film & Panel Discussion Tom Hansell, Appalachian State University: After coal. Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities (Film) Panel Discussion Tom Hansell, Appalachian State University; Stefan Berger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Stefan Moitra & Stefan Przigoda, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum

Friday 16 Mar

09:00 am – 10:40 am	Section VII: Meaning and Representation of Mining Chair: Jana Golombek, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Jörg Arnold, University of Nottingham: Shifting Pasts, Receding Futures – The British Coal Industry, generational change and the politics of temporality (ca. 1967-1987) Gisela Parak, TU Bergakademie Freiberg: Pulse for Preservation – Bernd & Hilla Becher and the Role of Photography in Industrial Heritage Sigrun Lehnert, Hamburg Media School: Representation of Mining in the German Post-war Newsreel (East-West) (1948-1965) Discussion
10:40 am – 11:10 am	Coffee break
11:10 am – 12:50 pm	Section VIII: Social Policy of Coal Mining Chair: Martha Poplawski, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum Lars Bluma, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum: “Humanisation of Work”. A watershed in Biopolitics of German Coal Mining? Sara-Marie Demiriz, History of the Ruhr Foundation: Qualifying the stranger. Educational policies for migrant workers in the West German mining industry Jan Kellershohn, Institute for Social Movements: The rationalisation of minds. Mining industry and the negotiation of knowledge under „deindustrialisation“ Discussion
12:50 pm – 01:30 pm	Closing address Michael Farrenkopf & Lars Bluma, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum
01:30 pm – 05:00 pm	Excursion: Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site