Johanna Zetterström-Sharp
Johanna is Associate Professor in Heritage Studies at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology. Prior to coming to UCL in 2022, she worked as Senior Curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum in South London, and as Lecturer in Anthropology at Goldsmiths, London. Johanna’s fascination with the colonial history of milk began at the Horniman, when she was documenting a collection relating to an agricultural scientist who worked on a cattle breeding program in Ibadan, Nigeria. This included transporting Devonshire Friesian cows by boat and plane, and aimed to increase the volume of milk that could be produced.
The collection led her to archives of the Food and Agricultural Association, the World Dairy Congress, and UNICEF, as well as questions about whose knowledge is missing in the production of global expertise relating to dairy, and the impacts of this.
The focus of her wider museum practice is community-led research and creative partnerships as a means of building more equitable, relevant and useful futures for colonial-era collections. She is writing a book about museum practice in the 1970s-90s, with a particular interest in the limits of good intentions and the liberal self-definitions of anti-racism and collaborative practice that operated during this time.
JC Niala
JC Niala is the Head of Research, Teaching and Collections at History of Science Museum, University of Oxford. She was previously Head of World Collections at Cambridge University Libraries. JC has a dual interest in developing methodologies for community led-research and examining the role of heritage in sustainability. Milk serves as a fascinating case study for her, as it integrates the production of scientific knowledge, heritage, human-animal relationships, and the tensions between public and private spheres.
She has conducted land-based research in both the UK and Kenya and is eager to engage with individuals who work with land and milk-producing animals as part of their cultural practices and livelihoods. Additionally, she is a nature writer currently working on her book A Loveliness of Ladybirds which intertwines colonial history and personal memoir to explore the impact of landscapes on identity.