This two-day conference will focus upon the comparative history of ‘coalfield societies’. Comparisons could either focus on different coalfields within Britain or they could attempt to put the British experience in an international context. We would particularly encourage comparisons with European, North American or other coalfields anywhere in the world. Comparative papers that do not include Britain are also welcome. Papers will be grouped together into three separate, although interlocking, strands: ‘communities, ‘identities’ and ‘organizations’.

Identities
Possible themes for discussion could include:
* Identities and work
* Impact of unemployment/pit closures
* Gender and coalfield identities
* Representations of coalfields and coalfield societies (literary and visual)

Communities
Possible themes for discussion could include:
* Sociability in the neighbourhood
* Transport and communication links
* Migration
* Family and gender relations
* The topography of mining towns and villages
* The social structure of coalfields
* The role of the middle class in mining communities
* From frontier townships to civic settlements: the development of the mining community
* Pit disasters, rituals of mourning and remembrance
* Strikes and lockouts: a cultural and social history,br>

Organizations
Possible themes for discussion could include:
* The death of trade union history? Rethinking the history of miners’ unions
* Political parties and the coalfield experience
* Coalowners’ associations
* Voluntary organizations in the coalfields
* Women and organized labour in the coalfields