Conclusions
In an attempt to rejuvenate the relationship between Industrial Archaeology and social theory, this chapter has offered some comparative perspectives on how we currently define our sub-discipline. By revisiting our intellectual ties with the existing fields of heritage studies, postmedieval and historical archaeology, we bring new theoretical depth to our archaeological scholarship. From its early origins in the 1950s, Industrial Archaeology has been expanded and enriched through the dedicated participation of community based interest groups. Whether descendants, former employees, local residents, or passionate enthusiasts, these interest groups have helped inspire an enduring commitment to community outreach within Industrial Archaeology. This commitment now forms a unique hallmark of our particular sub-discipline.
As we shift from descriptive site-specific studies, to confront the sophisticated multi-scalar networks of production, exchange, distribution and consumption that transformed the Modern Era, we are expanding our primary subject of enquiry to include the complicated links between households, settlements and workplaces. And by considering the impacts of industrialization on the working peoples of the recent past, our archaeological research has led us to consider both the material consequences of social affiliations, and the complex ways those obligations function on household, community and regional scales.
The Industrial world of the Modern Era was an increasingly global one. By adopting an internationally comparative perspective, we can consider the diverging patterns of flexible continuity and adaptive improvisations that dramatically reshaped worker’s communities throughout the world. Finally, by approaching our assemblages, whether materials, documents, or oral histories, as active manifestations of everyday life, our research continues to contribute to wider interdisciplinary understandings of how working people both laboured and lived.
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Casella, E.C. (2005). “Social Workers”. In: Casella, E.C., Symonds, J. (eds) Industrial Archaeology. Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22831-4_1
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