Cereal Cultures

This invitation-only event is co-organised by Dorian Fuller. Any interested UCL participants should contact Dorian (d.fuller@ucl.ac.uk) in the first instance.

As part of a collaboration between the University of Groningen (Groningen), Frobenius Institute (Frankfurt), the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew (London), this workshop will further explore millet cultivation in relation to rice and other cereals in India and beyond.

The balance between millets and rice as staple cereals seems to have emerged from a long interaction between several environmental cultural spheres, including livelihood practices, socio-economic developments, religious practices and ideas, identity formation and food security policies. Understanding the relationship between rice and millets is therefore relevant to the understanding of past societies and related agricultural practices, as well as to the emergence of present crop choices and agricultural systems.

The aims of this interactive workshop are:

• to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between millets and other cereals, as well as of the individual crops, in relation to cropping systems, processing and consumption practices, distribution systems, and social-ritual spheres in India, East Asia, South East Asia and Africa
• to facilitate networking, interdisciplinary collaboration and discussion among researchers from the fields of anthropology, archaeology and (ethno)botany with a focus on millets and rice
• to reflect on current research trends related to millets and other cereals and identify topics for future research

The event will take place at UCL on 14 and 15 May (held in Room B03, 36-38 Gordon Square), and at Kew Gardens on 16 May.

View the workshop programme and further details 

Image © Peter Berger