If the Bays Could Speak Oral History and Noxious Deindustrialization in the Bays of Biskaia (Basque Country, Spain)

The article advocates for oral history as a valuable method for understanding the urban environmental history of the Bays of Bizkaia and Guanabara, focusing on their damaging deindustrialization processes. We highlight examples of how these processes have impacted and continue to impact both human and non-human communities, and the extent to which testimonies from social actors involved particularly environmentalists and residents of these areas between land and sea reveal social, environmental, and economic conflicts, inequalities, and forms of violence. Memories of the past, reactivated in the present, serve to problematise dynamic landscapes that, while unique, share similar experiences of environmental loss, displacement, and the rebuilding of collective identities. By valuing listening and subjective narratives, oral history supports an understanding of how emotions, belonging, and local practices intertwine with the material transformations of the territory. Its contribution to environmental history remains vital in times that demand swift responses, critical reflection, and collective organization amidst the global ecological crisis.

KEYWORDS:
Oral history; environmental history; deindustrialization