CRPR Seminar Series
Daniel Keech: The Submersion and Adaptation of Routines in the Somerset Levels and Moors
The Somerset Levels and Moors comprise low-lying farmland in south-west England, prone to seasonal flooding. The area suffered uncommonly severe floods in 2012 and 2013/2014, triggering high-profile debates about the area’s long-term future.
| A College of Social Sciences and International Studies seminar | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 November 2021 |
| Time | 10:30 to 12:30 |
| Place | Amory B219 and online via Teams |
Event details
In his presentation, Dan will describe experiences of the floods in one village, Muchelney. Drawing on mixed methods, his interdisciplinary study with the artist Mike Ricketts (University of the West of England) examines physical and social routines, and how these were disrupted, adapted or reinforced. Indications of adaptability, resourcefulness and hierarchy emerge. The examination of routines draws on modest material representations sought out after the events took place, to illustrate how the floods submerged the landscape’s physical geometry and disrupted mobility, but also presented new conduits. Within the trauma of isolation and inundation, prolonged media scrutiny revealed a range of gendered, hierarchical and uncomfortable social experiences that complement evidence of a resilient community pulling together and learning to cope among the upending of normal life.
Please email crpr@exeter.ac.uk to receive the Teams link to this event.
