Mining the Meaning

The news this week that Labour MP, John Mann, has called for an inquiry into policing of the 1984-5 miners' strike highlights the publication of a new book by University of Brighton Faculty of Arts lecturer Dr Katy Shaw, which examines the cultural representations of the strike.

Dr Shaw’s book, Mining the Meaning Cultural Representations of the 1984-5 UK Miners Strike, is described by author David Peace as an “innovative study that proves an exciting, challenging and accessible critical introduction to cultural representations of the strike and analyses the ways in which these representations articulated an essential dialogic exchange of issues central to the coal dispute and the development of literacy and cultural studies over the past twenty-five years.”

Dr Shaw is an acknowledged authority on the literature of the 1984-5 miners’ strike and twenty-first century writings. Her research interests include contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, working-class literature, literatures of post-industrial regeneration and the languages of comedy. She is editor of C21 Literature: Journal of 21^st Century Writings.

In his review of Mining and Meaning, Professor Ian Haywood of the University of Roehampton said: “Katy Shaw’s important, informative and provocative study is a powerful reminder that the great miners’ strike was the definitive industrial, political and social conflict of post-war Britain. Through a skilful comparison of previously unknown ‘front line poems with mainstream literary, theatrical and televisual representations of the strike, Shaw exposes contemporary culture’s failure to engage with the collective solidarity at the heart of embattled mining communities.” 

Mining the Meaning Cultural Representations of the 1984-5 UK Miners' Strike is published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing (ISBN: 9781443837859) in Hardback at £39.00. 20% discount available by ordering online at www.c-s-p.org using Login: mining Password: mining20%.