Preserving the Memory of Work and Associated Techniques Through Industrial Heritage in Spain

Abstract

Technological and cultural advances have meant that many once commonplace modes of production and trades have lost their usefulness and raison d’être, giving way to new, more efficiency and productivity. In numerous cases, these trades and their associated knowledge, techniques and ways of life possess high intangible ethnographic values. The aim of this study was to determine and analyze some of the key strategies for keeping these techniques alive so that they do not fall into oblivion and to transmit knowledge of them to future generations. The study method was based on dialogical fieldwork conducted with the aim of learning about the human experience of protagonists in various industrial activities. Our results show that it is vital to maintain industrial heritage as a witness to these forms of production and to disseminate knowledge of different work cultures through the voices of their protagonists. This can be achieved by recording former workers’ narratives, which may provide valuable information concerning these individuals’ work identities. The results also suggest the route to industrial heritage conservation often involves the museumization of these spaces or their conversion into cultural centers. As part of this process, it is essential to give a voice to the protagonists and ensure the participation of former, mostly retired workers in any associated heritage dissemination activities. We conclude that contextualizing industrial heritage is an important means to comprehend and appreciate its symbolic component and to understand the underlying technological, social, and cultural changes.