Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Helen Underhill

Research Associate

Background

Introduction

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate within the UKRI GCRF Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub at Newcastle University, investigating socio-cultural values of water using collaborative and creative research methods. I have an interdisciplinary background in Anthropology and Fine Art practice.


Qualifications

  • PhD in Anthropology & Sociology, SOAS, University of London (2018) 'Art school, art world, art circuit: an ethnography of contemporary visual art education and production in two Palestinian locations' 
  • MA (dist.) in Anthropology of Media, SOAS, University of London (2012)
  • BA (hons) in Fine Art, Falmouth University (2009)

Interests

Having lived on a narrowboat since 2016, I am interested in alternative/off-grid living, and spend a good deal of time reading, thinking and writing about dwelling on water. I am also fond of cycle touring and terriers.

Research

My research approaches water relations from an ethnographic perspective across geographies and cultures. It interweaves several strands, following three core themes:


·      Water and sanitation service provision for alternative dwellings and/or lifestyles. Practical, material and intangible aspects of service access and self-provisioning; issues of equity; opportunities for learning from alternative lifeways and low impact practices. I approach this topic through my work with Boaters on the UK’s inland waterways. Working with Ruth Sylvester (University of Leeds) I have recently published a paper detailing this research and its significance for WASH research on equitable service delivery (Sylvester R, Underhill H. Freedoms ebb and flow: Boaters’ experiences of water and sanitation insecurity on the inland waterways of England & Wales. Water Alternatives 2023. In Press.)


·       Relationships with water and rivers. Encompassing the spiritual, practical, commercial, embodied and creative or imaginative, with the aim of highlighting the human aspect of water security and water systems. This work centres on India (studying adaptations to ritual practices involving water in New Delhi associated with the increasing use of artificial immersion ponds for the Hindu religious festival of Durga Puja) and Japan (exploring socio-cultural waterscapes and dynamic resilience practices in a rural agricultural community in Tadami, Fukushima, Japan as part of the Densho Adapt project).


·      Reflecting on the place of creativity, play and imagination in relationships with water. This theme finds its expression in engagement with artwork and artists, to explore deep connection with water across cultural and linguistic contexts. I am the curator of Confluences: Water and People – an exhibition that will open at Newcastle Arts Centre on 22nd March 2024 (UN World Water Day). Stemming from this exhibition I am programming a workshop series, to encourage reflection on what people value about water, and deepen understanding of diverse water values as integral elements of efforts to improve water security, for human and ecosystem health. 



Postdoc Position

UKRI GCRF Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub (Led by Richard Dawson, Newcastle University). This trans-disciplinary hub tackles intractable challenges of water security and addresses the Sustainable Development Goals. The Water Hub has worldwide reach through collaboratories in India, Malaysia, Ethiopia and Colombia to increase dialogue. I work within Work Stream 4 on Valuing Water, working with colleagues and partners across all the collaboratories of the hub to consider the multiple ways that water is viewed and interacted with, and investigating how the ways that water is valued affect approaches to water security. More information: https://www.watersecurityhub.org/

Within the Water Security Hub, I lead the Research Methods for Global Challenges project (https://www.watersecurityhub.org/rmgc/about) promoting more-than-disciplinary Arts, Humanities and Social Science methods.


Previous Projects

From 2019-2020 I was a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to the British Academy funded Making Home Away project at the University of Reading, project managing the creation of an accessible digital humanities archive of Syrian refugee stories.

Prior to this, between 2017 and 2019 I supported Dr Caroline Osella on an ethnographic research project based at SOAS, part of the REALM portfolio hosted at Columbia University & NYU Abu Dhabi, reflecting on the experiences of Malayali Gulf migrants, and investigating the intersection of gender, race, class and migration. Within this project I helped to develop ‘Do You Belong Here?’ an immersive Live Art workshop experience, conveying complex ethnographic research findings to broad, non-specialist audiences using creative methods (with Dr Caroline Osella & Lady Helena Vortex). 

Doctoral research (2014-2018) - ethnography of a contemporary visual art school in Ramallah, West Bank, and its wider integration within the Palestinian art scene. Combining visual and material anthropology with the anthropology of development to provide the first in-depth, ethnographic examination of higher education in contemporary visual art in Palestine; a milieu heavily inflected by NGO funding and circuits of international capital and influence found within the international art world. This research critically examined the process of socialization of artists through NGO-sponsored education in Ramallah.  



Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching

Contributor

  • TCP8025 Linked Research Project
  • TCP3099 Dissertation mentor (Undergraduate)
 
Publications