Academic Publications

Welcome to the academic publications page of Dr JC Niala’s website where you can explore a curated collection of research contributions in the disciplines of Archaeology, Anthropology, History, Museum Studies, Theatre Studies and Utopian Studies.

Links provided for all open access available work.

Academic CV

MSt Creative Writing - Kellogg College, University of Oxford

MSc Social Anthropology - St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

DPhil Social Anthropology - St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford

Doctoral Thesis

‘Banal Utopia: urban gardening as a practice for materialising utopic spaces in cities’ (link forthcoming)

Memberships

Social History Society

Royal Historical Society

Archaeology

‘The Missing Link: Community Contribution and Absence in Archaeology in East Africa’

Special Issue: Inequality and Race in the Histories of Archaeology (2021) https://doi.org/10.5334/bha-660

History

Shortlisted for the Olivette Otele Prize IHR History Lab Prize ‘21-’22

‘Seeds of Displacement & Resistance: Social impacts of WW1 across the African continent’

Museum Studies

‘Facilitating Community Access to African Collections: Developing Collaborative Practice to Unpack Museum Protocol and Terminologies’ in Krmpotich & Stevenson (eds) Collections Management as Critical Practice (2023) UCL Press pp xx-xx (with Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp and Juma Ondeng’)

‘Rethinking Relationships and building trust around African collections’ Journal of Museum Ethnography (2022) 35: 49-62

‘Reconstructing relationships: an auto-ethnographic account of post-colonial museum encounters’ Journal of Museum Ethnography (2019) 32: 136-149

Theatre Studies

‘Koulsy Lamko Bintou Wéré: African Opera’. In C. Matzke, L. Van der Hoven, C. Odhiambo, & H. Roos (Eds.), African Theatre 19: Opera & Music Theatre (2020) (African Theatre, pp. 243-244). Boydell & Brewer. doi:10.1017/9781787449503.017

‘Cultural Production in a Digital Age: A Reflection on the Adaptation of an African Folktale for a Young Audience.’ African Theatre 17: Contemporary Dance, (2018) edited by Yvette Hutchison et al. Boydell & Brewer pp. 135–52. 

Urban Gardening

‘(Re)creating a Living Memorial: Urban Gardening as a Multispecies Co-Creating Practice.’ (2023) Ecozon@ 14.1 : 40–55

‘Dig for Vitality: UK Urban Allotments as a Health-Promoting Response to COVID-19.’ (2021) Cities & health 5.1: S227–S231. 

Utopian Studies

English Allotments as sites of utopic super-diversity in L. Benison (ed) ‘Utopian Possibilities: Models, Theories, Critiques’ (2023)