Katrin Sowa

Dr. Katrin Sowa is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Cologne, since April 2020. She co-supervises the M.A. program "Culture and Environment in Africa" and serves as co-speaker of the Africa regional group of the German Anthropology Association. Her work focuses on East Africa, particularly Kenya and Uganda, with expertise in migration, border studies, and political anthropology.

• B.A. in Sociology, Anthropology & African Studies (2012, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz)
• M.A. in Anthropology (2016, University of Cologne)
• Ph.D. research on Kenyan border regimes (2022 completion)

Her research examines globalization, bureaucracy, and gender through ethnographic fieldwork in East African borderlands. As an EUmanities Research Fellow (2017-2020), she explored migration governance dynamics. Her 2023 museum intervention "b/or/der st/or/ies" with Pamoja Afrika e.V. Köln bridges academic and public anthropology.

Key achievements include publishing in the Journal of Eastern African Studies and contributing to critical pedagogy discourse via the Boas-Blog. She received the University of Cologne Faculty of Arts and Humanities award for her M.A. thesis.

• Scientific Awards
  • Award of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Cologne (July 2016)

She co-supervises interdisciplinary projects and has collaborated with institutions like Kenyatta University (Nairobi) and Gulu University (Uganda). Her work intersects with environmental anthropology through socio-political dynamics in border regions.