<i>Dig Where You Stand</i> and International History from Below Movements

Abstract This article introduces the Swedish ‘Dig Where You Stand’ movement of the 1970s and 1980s as an workers’ and community history movement, and then explores Sven Lindqvist’s 1978 book Gräv där du står: Hur man utforskar ett job (recently translated for the first time in English as Dig Where You Stand: How to Research a Job) which acted as a handbook for historical research for the movement. The article then establishes how Lindqvist and the Dig movement were connected to and influenced similar movements in the UK and internationally such as History Workshop and the oral history movement, and how the ethos of ‘Dig Where You Stand’ remains an inspiration to this day.