Anthropology Professor, Dr. David A. Kideckel, Premieres Video
Documentary
 Dr. David A. Kideckel,
professor of anthropology, premiered a video documentary entitled “Days
of the Miners: Life and Death of a Working-Class Culture” that he
filmed, edited, and narrated with the collaboration of Alin Rus, an
anthropologist and former miner.
The documentary focuses on Romania’s Jiu Valley, which is quite similar
to the coal regions throughout Europe and the U.S. Since the end of
socialism in 1989, but especially since 1997, the Valley mining industry
has been greatly cut-back, leaving many mining families in a dire
economic situation. At the same time, there have been an overwhelming
number of serious mine accidents and fatalities. Jiu Valley miners are suffering and
interpret their current labor and economic difficulties as an attack on
their physical health and well-being. The film seeks to capture and
place this pain in the context of the history of the Valley coal
industry.
The film begins at a memorial service
for 14 miners killed in an explosion at the Vulcan mine in 2001. The
film then presents a series of interviews with individuals affected by
the current labor contract buy-outs and large-scale unemployment. After
presenting the current situation, the film traces the history of the
region’s mining industry and the mining way of life from their early
days in the middle of the nineteenth century, through socialism, to the
present day.
Kideckel follows a group of miners
through a typical day of work in the mines. He emphasizes the cohesion
of miners, the difficulty and dangers of mine labor, and the miners’
courage. This segment closes with a detailed description of the Vulcan
mine accident, and the horrible fate that befell the miners.
Kideckel makes clear that life is
problematic for mining families. Thus, the last part of the film
considers the present difficulties as seen through the eyes of miners,
mine pensioners, and mine wives and widows. The portraits of the present
are uniformly problematic. People see their lives as a challenge but
manage to take meaning and joy wherever they can, which is the reason
that the film closes with scenes of neighborhood life, youthful
partying, and communal celebration, despite the danger, death, and
economic decline in the Jiu Valley.
— Sheila Guillaume |
