Academic Publications

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’ Read here

Memberships

Social History Society

Royal Historical Society

European Association of Social Anthropologists

Society of Africanist Archaeologists

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’

Niala, JC. “Review of: ‘Anna Marie Roos and Vera Keller (Eds), Collective Wisdom: Collecting in the Early Modern Academy Turnhout: Brepols, 2022. Pp. 325. ISBN 978-2-503-58806-3. €85.00 (Hardback).’” (2023): n. pag. Print. Read here

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 385-400 (with Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp and Juma Ondeng’) Read here

‘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

Niala, J. (2025) Reconstituting Fragments. African arts. [Online] 58 (1), 1–5. Read here

Niala, J. & Ondeng’, J. (2024) Developing Digital Research Methodologies for Kenyan Collections Held in UK Museums. Third text. [Online] 38 (4–5), 404–422. Read here

Niala, J. (2025) ‘What to Take and What to Leave Behind: Contemporary Ethical Collecting for a Museum in Oxford’, in Jen Kavanagh et al. (eds) Ethics of Contemporary Collecting. 1st edition [Online]. Routledge. pp. 175–183. Read here

Niala, J. (2024) ‘Restitution, Repatriation, and Reparation: Current Debates: Marejesho, Marudisho na Ulipaji fidia: Mijadala ya kiSasa’, in John D. Giblin et al. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Critical African Heritage Studies. 1st edition [Online]. Routledge. pp. 207–220. Read here

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. 

Niala, JC,. Portal : 1918 Allotment. Oxford: Fig, 2022. Print.

Utopian Studies

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