Lorenz Gosch

Lorenz GoschNetwork Member

I studied Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Leipzig. In 2016 I received my Master’s Degree with a thesis on “Revolving around outer bodies. Developing an anthropological perspective on the ontological discomfort caused by organoids grown from stem cells.” Early 2017 I started working as a PhD researcher in the DFG funded research project “Trust in Medicine After the Ebola Epidemic“ at the University of Halle. My research interest concerns water, infrastructure, and urban space.

Current position
PhD researcher
University affiliation
Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Halle

Research

My research focus is on water. I traced the different ways water shapes everyday life across the city of Freetown in Sierra Leone. I mainly focused on two slum communities (Susan’s Bay and Thompson Bay), which were located at the very border to the sea, and on the city’s water infrastructure, managed by the Guma Valley Water Company. Among the topics that I engaged with were the production and distribution of safe drinking water and regular instances of flooding in the above-mentioned communities. At a general level, I inquire into how water connects and disconnects things and what consequences this may have. Among other things this involves concerns about the allocation of responsibility and neglect.

Publications