Chiedi alla ruggine. Studi e storiografia della deindustrializzazione

The title’s play on words introduces a survey dedicated to the de-industrialization studies in English language in the inter- and multi-disciplinary literature. The survey focuses on the North American and European countries that were early industrializers, paying particular attention to the studies that consider the historical perspective close up. Drawing upon a growing literature, and covering the period from the crisis of the ’70s to nowadays, the article singles out the most relevant references and identi es three turning points. It also connects basic data and information with a larger interpretation of the emergence and the consolidation of this eld of research among various disciplines and it demonstrates how this body of study has progressively re ned its conceptualizations and de nitions and has broadened not only its focus, but also its methods and its sources in order to study the memory of and the different meanings attributed to job loss and factory closings.

Keywords: Deindustrialization; Factory and mill closings; Industrial decline; Capitalism; Memory; Oral history.