New taxpayer-funded research is aiming to unearth the links between “milk and colonialism”.
Academic professors, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, will look at the “political nature of this everyday substance”.
One of the professors involved in the project said that milk stems from Northern Europe and it is an example of “white supremacism” being imposed on other cultures.
Part of the research will focus on studying “milk-related” content at the History of Science Museum in Oxford - it is entitled “Milking it: colonialism, heritage & everyday engagement with dairy”.
Academics have spent taxpayers' money on investigation into 'milk and colonialism'Geograph/GettyIt has not yet been published how much the research will cost.
Announcing the project, the museum said: “By focusing on communities intersecting industry, aid and government regulation, the project aims to centre on heritage as a vital framework for understanding how colonial legacies influence contemporary issues and affect people’s lives.
“Through milk diaries, archival research and participatory podcasting, it will investigate historical engagement with milk, building networks with consumers and producers in Britain and Kenya.
“The project will question both the imagined and real aspects of milk, revealing the intimate and political nature of this everyday substance.”
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The research will be undertaken by Dr JC Niala, the head of research at the History of Science Museum, and Dr Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, an associate professor at UCL.
Sharing the news, Dr Zetterstrom-Sharp said: “This has been a long five year obsession. Milk is a fascinating lens for exploring everyday colonial processes and power, from enclosing land to conceptions of hygiene, motherhood and health.”
In 2022, Dr Zetterstrom-Sharp participated in a panel entitled Milk and Whiteness, where she outlined “Northern Europe’s obsession with milk”. She asserted that the mass production of milk in many cultures outside of Europe “may be understood as a white supremacist one”.
Academic professors will look at the 'political nature of this everyday substance'
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She explained at the panel hosted by the Wellcome Collection: “Northern European needs and the science and the technology devised to address them are the needs that pertain and are most important for global majority populations.”
Meanwhile, Dr Niala has carried out work previously on the “historical and political significance of dairy".
Many regions of the world outside of North America and Europe have high levels of lactose intolerance.