Men's work in heavy industries in Glasgow oral history project

Conversations between Neil Rafeek and witnesses of working life in the Clydeside heavy industries.
Includes notes and draft publications relating to a project about the working culture and notions of masculinity in Clydeside heavy industries.

The Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) was set up within the Department of History at the University of Strathclyde in 1995. Since its foundation the SOHC has been involved in a wide range of teaching, research and outreach activities designed primarily to encourage the use of ‘best practice’ oral history methodology in Scotland. Until 2005, the SOHC was directed by Professor Callum Brown, since then by Professor Arthur McIvor.

Neil Rafeek was born in London, the middle of three brothers. His father Taureq Rafeek was a town planner and the family regularly moved with his work. From London they moved to Bristol, then Edinburgh (where Neil attended primary school), then Sunderland. Neil Rafeek's experience at secondary school there prevented him from successfully completing his early education. Leaving with just one O-level, he entered the building trade to train as a bricklayer. Subsequently he enrolled at the University of Strathclyde as a mature student and went on to do a PhD on women in the Communist party in Scotland 1920-1991 (1998). It was the first oral history based PhD awarded in the Department of History. Rafeek actively helped to build, manage and run the Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) at Strathclyde.

One interview is restricted. Otherwise no access restrictions.

The Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) was set up within the Department of History at the University of Strathclyde in 1995. Since its foundation the SOHC has been involved in a wide range of teaching, research and outreach activities designed primarily to encourage the use of ‘best practice’ oral history methodology in Scotland. Until 2005, the SOHC was directed by Professor Callum Brown, since then by Professor Arthur McIvor.

Neil Rafeek was born in London, the middle of three brothers. His father Taureq Rafeek was a town planner and the family regularly moved with his work. From London they moved to Bristol, then Edinburgh (where Neil attended primary school), then Sunderland. Neil Rafeek's experience at secondary school there prevented him from successfully completing his early education. Leaving with just one O-level, he entered the building trade to train as a bricklayer. Subsequently he enrolled at the University of Strathclyde as a mature student and went on to do a PhD on women in the Communist party in Scotland 1920-1991 (1998). It was the first oral history based PhD awarded in the Department of History. Rafeek actively helped to build, manage and run the Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) at Strathclyde.

Created by Anna-K Mayer, 31 January 2017

No need to anonymise: names and dates of interviews revealed in
Johnston, R and McIvor, A (2007) 'Narratives from the urban workplace: oral testimonies and the reconstruction of men's work in the heavy industries of Glasgow' (\Testimonies of the city: identity, community, and change in a contemporary urban world\, ed. J Herbert and R Rodger)
Dudgeon, P (2009) 'Our Glasgow: memories of life in disappearing Britain' (Ch. 2: 'Character')

Current location sound recordings: Baird 27.2./akm February 2017
Current location 2 fdolders: Baird 27.4/akm April 2017

Transferred in 2015 and 2016 from SOHC. The project's original SOHC ID was SOHCA/028. The project appears to have been referred to also by the title "Clydeside heavy industries oral history project". The original recordings were made 2005 using a cassette recorder. In 2016, they were digitised to uncompressed, unaltered 24 bit/96kHz BWF format (for preservation) with 16bit/48kHz MP3 surrogates (for access).

This collection is part of the Scottish Oral History Centre Archive.

published