Dr JC Niala, Honorary Research Associate

 

JD Niala Head of Research, Teaching & Collections

Dr JC Niala, Honorary Research Associate

Contact

Email: jc.niala@hsm.ox.ac.uk

www.jcniala.com

Biography

Dr JC Niala is an historian, anthropologist and writer whose research explores the social and cultural histories of science, heritage and everyday life. Her interdisciplinary work brings together historical enquiry, ethnography and creative practice, with particular interests in colonial histories of knowledge, environmental histories and public engagement with heritage.

She was formerly Deputy Director and Head of Research, Teaching and Collections at the History of Science Museum. Her previous appointments include inaugural Head of World Collections at Cambridge University Libraries and roles at the Horniman Museum and Gardens.

She holds a doctorate in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford and is an Associate Member of Reuben College, Oxford. Her 1918 Allotment project received the Social History Society's Prize for Public History in 2022.

 

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JC's research investigates how knowledge is produced, circulated and contested, and how historical research can inform contemporary understandings of science, culture and society.

She is currently writing two books. The first, a work of nature writing forthcoming from Little Toller in 2027, traces the inheritances that shape a life and explores how they continue to influence our relationships with land, the natural world and our sense of belonging. The second, co-authored with Johanna Zetterström-Sharp and due for publication in 2028, examines the cultural and political history of milk.

At the History of Science Museum, she is interested in histories of scientific knowledge and practice that cross contemporary national and regional boundaries, particularly connections between East Africa, the Indian Ocean world, South Asia and Europe. Her research interests include how museum classifications and changing geopolitical boundaries shape the interpretation of these interconnected histories, bringing some relationships and exchanges into focus while obscuring others.

Film
  • Why Milk Is Weird — BBC Ideas (2026). A short film exploring the social, historical and political meanings of milk.
Podcasts
  • Milk on the Move (2025–26) — Co-presenter with Johanna Zetterström-Sharp. Exploring the cultural politics and histories of milk.
     
  • The Root of the Matter — Wellcome Collection (2022). A five-part podcast exploring plants, health, history and belonging.

History of Science; Social Anthropology; Colonial Histories; History of Agriculture; African Collections; Cultural Heritage; Environmental History; Public History; Creative Research; Participatory Methods

Selected publications

  • Niala, JC. ‘Questioning Care for Things (and Their People)’. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 16, no. 2 (2026): 386–401. https://doi.org/10.1086/741873
     
  • Niala, J. C. The New Eden : Wildlife in the City, and Discovering Our Shared Home. Gaia, 2026.
     
  • Niala, JC and Juma Ondeng' (2025). ‘Developing Digital Research Methodologies for Kenyan Collections Held in UK Museums’. Third Text, 38, 402–422.
     
  • Niala, JC (2025). ‘Reconstituting Fragments’. African Arts, 58(1), 1–5. 
     
  • Niala, JC, Johanna Zetterström-Sharp and Juma Ondeng' (2024). ‘Facilitating Community Access to African Collections: Developing Collaborative Practice to Unpack Museum Protocol and Terminologies.’
     
  • Rigby, Sarah (ed) ‘Old Boys and Hidden Women—JC Niala.’ This Allotment, Elliott & Thompson, Limited, 2024.