Inventing the Black Country

In all of the transformational innovations of the Industrial Revolution one of its most significant inventions has yet to be fully understood – The Invention of the Black Country

In the tumultuous ferment of the 1830s, the core elements of modern British society, economy, and politics were forged. Understandings of class, empire, and race that shape our world today crystallised through the driving force of the extractive fossil capitalist system.

As we face a climate emergency which threatens the breakdown of ecosystems and catastrophic impacts for billions across the planet, we can trace the understanding of environmental exploitation and despoliation and the project of the spread of extractive fossil capitalism directly back to the our region.

It was in our region, the first landscape in the world fully turned over to that system, where observers first fully articulated its devastating and transformative implications, and it was the idea of the Black Country which the Victorians used to articulate and plan its colonisation and spread across the globe.

Skally: Songs from the Black Country

Listen & Explore

Listen to Inventing the Black Country on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking

Inventing the Black Country grows out of an innovative research project. Underpinning this work is a catalogue of every published mention of the phrase “black country” during the nineteenth century.

This catalogue allows us to trace in unprecedented detail how the idea of the Black Country was created, developed, and imposed on our region by outsiders to articulate all of the worst impacts of industrialisation and load all onto our region and its people all of the deepest preoccupations of the Victorian elite about the environmental and social impacts of the change extractive fossil capitalism had wrought.

Opportunities

Uncovering and understanding the invention of the Black Country opens a wealth of opportunities for communities and institutions in every part of our region for investment and engagement as we re-invent our post-industrial identity in a way which addresses today’s challenges of environmental regeneration, the impact of legacies of class and race on economic opportunity, and understanding and developing our global connections.

As well as writing from this research exploring our industrial heritage, this website also shares music exploring post industrial identity and will include details of upcoming performances, appearances, and project updates.

For bookings, appearances, and questions, please get in touch by email at m.stallard@ucl.ac.uk

The first three articles here form the core work so far outlining the invention of the idea of the Black Country, with particular attention on environment, the international spread and development of extractive fossil capitalism, and its links with colonisation.