Paper short abstract:

By analyzing how the last laid off miners in the Jiu Valley, Romania experienced the multifaceted post-socialist energy transition, this research aims to portray the salient transformations in the configuration of the local community and their imprint on the future of the area.

Paper long abstract:

Restructuring the mining industry in the Jiu Valley, Romania, has been an abiding pernicious process, characterized by structural uncertainty, authorities’ neglect and no viable alternative to sustain the local economy. Started in the early years of the post-socialist transition through brutal deindustrialization, the transformation of the Jiu Valley into the “valley of tears”, as locals call it, has reached its end point amid the nowadays’ energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. 2018 has marked the beginning of a final wave of layoffs brought about by the closure of the last functional mines. Based on several life-narratives of former miners dismissed in 2018 from Lonea and Lupeni mines, this research explores the link between their individualized future prospects and the future of the area. Is the life of the Jiu Valley communities hanging by the coal thread or are there viable solutions for the revitalization of the area? The energy transition altered the identity of the former mining community, aggregating new forms of communing and solidarity in the face of structural precariousness. By analyzing how these former miners experienced the multifaceted transition in all its stages, this research aims to portray the salient transformations in the configuration of the local community. How former miners and their families have learned to individually navigate political, economic and social isolation and create local solutions for the escalating poverty and unemployment rates is crucial to understanding the processes involved in shaping the future of the area in the absence of authorities’ intervention.