EMKP is happy to announce that we have awarded our first fifteen grants to researchers from across the globe investigating endangered material knowledge. We awarded eight small and seven large grants. Their focus ranges from clothing and fabric making to initiation ceremonies. We look forward to working with them.

The following projects were successful:

Small grants

Documenting the Endangered Traditional Broom and Fibre Rope Crafts of the Urhobo People of Nigeria
PI: Julius Ivwoba Arerierian, South-Western Edoid Institute in Nigeria
Collaborators: Akpobome Diffre-Odiete, Augustine Oborakpororo Omohwo, Oghenenyerhovwo Odogun

Documenting the Instrument and Instrument-making of Angkuoch, Cambodian Mouth Harp
PI: Catherine Fiona Grant, Griffith University in Australia
Collaborators: Song Seng, Patrick Kersale

Histories of Honey: Material Practices of Beekeeping in the Cherangani Hills, Kenya
PI: Samuel Lunn-Rockliffe, University of Oxford in the UK
Collaborators: Timothy Kipkeu Kiprutto, Joseph Kimutai

Paper People — making clothing from paper in Japan
PI: Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia

Museum, Community and Object: An ethnography of Sarawak native blades in a temporal and spatial milieu
PI: Tracy anak Peter Samat, University of Durham

Material Culture of Batek Hunter-Gatherers in Pahang State, Malaysia
PI: Alice Rudge, University College London

Wooden reed making of the ethnic Lao Khrang in Thailand
PI: Wuthigrai Siriphon, Thammasat University in Thailand
Collaborators: Jampee Tamasiri, Siriwan Sripenchan

Som: Shell Money of northern Vanuatu
PI: Thomas Dick, Further Arts in Vanuatu
Collaborators: Sarah Doyle, Sandy Sur, Dely Roy Nalo

Large grants

Endangered Material Knowledge: Digitalization of Glass Bead Making, Use, and Meaning in Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria
PI: Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, University of Cambridge in the UK

Apprehending Asapan: a project to document the Turkana initiation ceremony in northern Kenya
PI: Samuel Derbyshire, St John’s College at the University of Oxford in the UK
Collaborators: Lucas Lowasa, Gregory Akall, Abdikadir Kurewa

West African wild silks techniques: Preserving Marka-Dafing’s heritage of knowledge
PI: Laurence Douny, Humboldt University in Germany
Collaborators: Lossani Dayo, Sere Abdoulaye, Sawadogo Salif

Upper Xingu Material Culture in the Past, Present and Future: Collaborative Documentation of a Multiethnic Tradition in Brazilian Amazonia
PI: Carlos Fausto, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
Collaborators: Aristoteles Barcelos Neto, Bruna Franchetto, Michael Heckenberger

Research and Digitization of Indigenous Gold Forging in Ghana
PI: Kodzo Gavua, University of Ghana Legon in Ghana
Collaborators: Rebecca Ohene-Asah

Ethnic minorities and threatened materialities in Western Ethiopia
PI: Alfredo González Ruibal, Institute of Heritage Sciences, Spanish National Research Council (Incipit-CSIC) in Spain
Collaborators: Worku Derara Megenassa, Juan Salazar Bonet, Álvaro Minguito Palomares

From Seeds to Rags: Textile Production in Dendi and Borgou (North Benin)
PI: Olivier Gosselain, Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium
Collaborators: Lucie Smolderen, Barpougouni Mardjoua, Florian Vallee

We congratulate all of the successful applicants