Counter-Memory Activism in the Aftermath of Tragedy: A Case Study of the Westray Families Group

Abstract

Narratives are critical to how people understand themselves and the significant events of their lives. Drawing upon social memory theory and the social constructionist approach to social problems, this study provides a narrative analysis of the counter-memory activism of the Westray Families Group (WFG), which formed after 26 men died in the 1992 Westray mine explosion (Plymouth, NS). Against alternative explanations promoted by more powerful stakeholders, the WFG adopted and weaved a corporate negligence narrative into their commemorative activism. This study illustrates how a small families group can draw reflexively upon and reshape cultural scripts to narrate how others should remember and respond to key events.

Primacy of surgery in the management of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in children

“…One of the unique features of our study was the fact that all families in our study were coping with the same traumatic loss event. Like many community traumas, the event that took the lives of the men was instantaneous, but the destructive force of the explosion lasted for years (Verberg & Davis, 2011). In this case, the devastation was in large part psychological as families struggled unsuccessfully for justice.…”

“…Although many of the families of the men who died did not know one another before the explosion, they banded together in the aftermath for mutual support and subsequently for representation at the public inquiry (Verberg & Davis, 2011). Much has been written about the explosion and its aftermath, so we will not here describe the details of the event except to say that the event attracted a great deal of national and international attention and has become symbolic (at least in Canada) of corporate negligence (for more information, see McCormick, 1998).…”

Whose riot? Collective memory of an iconic event in a local music scene

“…Collective memory has been postulated and studied in various kinds of communities and social groups, including families, social classes, religious communities (Halbwachs, 1992), and political and social movements both at the national level (Conway, 2009) and concerning specific, local matters (Verberg and Davis, 2011). The concepts have recently been applied in relation to popular music culture (Bennett and Rogers, 2016; Strong, 2011).…”

“…Armstrong and Crage (2006) identify a number of factors that make an event an effective commemorative vehicle, based on their analysis of how the ‘Stonewall riot’ became iconic for the gay liberation movement: commemorability, as found in a dramatic, politically relevant and newsworthy event; mnemonic capacity, referring to the skills and resources of the group; resonance, being a measure of how the commemorative form and content appeal to the intended audience; and institutionalisation, such as in the annual Stonewall parade. Events are not remembered as decontextualised fragments but are embedded within narratives that render them meaningful to the group and to the broader community, while stakeholders compete for narrative authority (Verberg and Davis, 2011). Historical figures and events provide models for interpreting and responding to traumatic events and crises in the present (West, 2008).…”

Five Decades of Class Analysis in the Canadian Review of Sociology

“…It highlighted the need for antiracist organizing inside working class organizations like nurses’ unions as well as in workplaces, communities, and other social settings. The second article is a nuanced case study of the counterhegemonic activism of the Westray Families Group (WFG) that came together in the wake of the 1992 explosion that killed 26 underground miners at the Westray coal mine at Plymouth, Nova Scotia (Verberg and Davis ). After charges against company officials were stayed in 1995, “the WFG worked tirelessly to restore the corporate negligence narrative in the public discourse” (p. 41).…”