Dr JC Niala

Unfettered dirges
Not yet, don’t tell her just yet
So, the wind fell still.

TheʿAjamī script of Africa and the Sorabé manuscripts of Madagascar. The most widely used writing system in pre-colonial Africa was the ʿAjamī script.

“The rich archival collections of Ajami literature refute the pervasive myth of Africa’s supposed illiteracy that is perpetuated by the overemphasis on African oral traditions in academia and the privileging of external sources over local chronicles.”

www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/theajami-s...

ACE announces 'largest ever' funding boost of £42m for grassroots culture

ICYMI: Arts Council England is to invest £42 million into grassroots culture projects over the next three years of its Creative People and Places portfolio.

Read more 👇

Unpopular opinion from a 4am riser - it is really wonderful at 4:30am … the world to oneself.

Going to re-post this occasionally, with added mention that I’m very happy to do more talks about it

The politics of milk: how a simple drink got caught up in power, culture and identity Milk is never just milk. It’s saturated with meaning, emotion and contradiction, and provokes strong responses in people.

The latest output from my milk research with Johanna Zetterström-Sharp @uclarchaeology.bsky.social published in @theconversation.com

theconversation.com/the-politics...

Only 7 tickets left… you’d better be quick :)

Only 7 tickets left… you’d better be quick :)

There are cities that are full of nature and we we learn to pay attention to it… we can make room for even more… for the next few days 25% off on pre order…

The politics of milk: how a simple drink got caught up in power, culture and identity Milk is never just milk. It’s saturated with meaning, emotion and contradiction, and provokes strong responses in people.

The latest output from my milk research with Johanna Zetterström-Sharp @uclarchaeology.bsky.social published in @theconversation.com

theconversation.com/the-politics...

Milking It! The Cultural and Global Impact of Dairy Heritage How has Europe’s milk heritage shaped global dairy policies? Explore the fascinating connections behind everyday dairy practices.

A mindful day. This morning, chatting with @jcniala.bsky.social and Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp (uclarchaeology.bsky.social) about dairy heritage and change. In connections with their very cool project www.milkingit.org.

Delighted to be featured in this season’s @cprecountryside.bsky.social magazine… it was joyful to be able to share what I love about the incredible countryside.

A mushroom farm in Kenya and fungi-based panels give hope for sustainable building A large mushroom farm near Nairobi is producing mycelium for building materials that end up as fungi-based panels, which are more sustainable and affordable than traditional bricks.

A large mushroom farm near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is one of a kind: It grows fungi on an industrial scale — not as food for restaurants but as a building material that some Kenyans say could make more people homeowners.

Are you in Oxford?

There are cities that are full of nature and we we learn to pay attention to it… we can make room for even more… for the next few days 25% off on pre order…

A year on from our sold-out works in progress reading at Blackwell’s in Oxford… we have moved to the next stage and our rehearsed reading is on Wednesday 29th October at the Old Fire Station in Oxford… looking forward to seeing you there.

Allotments support biodiversity, bring people together and feed families. We already don’t have enough. the legal protections may not have changed but this is still a warning sign. History tells us these spaces vanish quietly. We need to protect what we have and we need more of them!

Allotments are under threat again. Media reports abound about the approval of the disposal of the sale of 8 sites.
As an anthropologist who engaged with allotments for my doctorate this is both familiar & frustrating. These spaces have helped communities through war, austerity and lockdowns.

It has been a gift to be one of the judges for this prize - congrats to the authors and I can highly recommend these reads.

Can’t wait to read it - congrats!

Thank you sharing this - along with the fragility is this idea that somehow heritage is fixed in a particular time or form and seeing it as endangered does not allow for new expressions of heritage of similar roots. Excuse the bad pun but an example is African hair heritages.

Conference CFP: 'Who Owns Heritage? Local Communities and the Fight for Historical Monuments in the 19th and 20th Centuries'. Masaryk University Brno, Czechia, 6 November. Deadline 11 April. networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Priceless @olliedouglas.bsky.social 😄

@themerl.bsky.social

Thank you - I’ll pass on your feedback.

Thank you.

🙏🏾

Hope you are doing much better now.

Family Sunday Join us on the 3rd Sunday of every month, where The Community Works will be open for Family Sunday! The library will be open for browsing, borrowing, or just hanging out to read, write, and relax. …

We've been loving our Family Sundays at The Community Works! Date for your diaries - the next one is 16 March. Come along from 12pm-3pm for food, fun, storytelling, and creative joy for all the family