Paul Wenzel Geissler

Paul Wenzel Geissler is a Professor of Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. With a background in history and zoology, he later pursued social anthropology, studying in Copenhagen and Cambridge. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in East Africa for over 25 years, focusing on the ethnography of science, medical research, and the relations between temporality and material culture.

His educational background includes:

• MSc in History (1993)
• PhD in Biology (1998)
• PhD in Social Anthropology (2003)

Geissler's research spans the anthropology of science, examining scientific fieldwork in both tropical and arctic settings. He investigates material traces and remains of scientific work, exploring how these relate to memory, temporality, and the sedimentation of 'past futures' of scientific modernism in Africa. His work bridges anthropology, history, and archaeology, with fieldwork at Amani Research Station in Tanzania, Kisumu, Kenya, and Svalbard, Norway, developing comparative perspectives on tropical and arctic field sciences.

His research reveals significant trends in the anthropology of science, particularly regarding the materiality of scientific practice, politics of knowledge production in post-colonial contexts, and ethical dimensions of transnational medical research. Geissler demonstrates how scientific practices are deeply embedded in historical and political contexts, with attention to how material remains shape contemporary understandings of science and its futures in Africa.

Geissler has received notable recognition for his scholarly contributions:

• RAI Amaury Talbot Prize for best Africanist book (for 'The Land is Dying')
• RAI Film Student Prize 2003 (for 'Adhiambo - Born in the Evening')

As a research leader, Geissler heads the AnthroTox group studying toxicity in Africa and leads the Oslo component of the EU Marie Curie Innovative Training Network ANTHUSIA, training 16 anthropological PhD students on human security issues in Africa. His research has been supported by various grants focusing on medical anthropology, history of science in Africa, and global health.

Geissler is actively involved with the LOST (Law, Organization, Science and Technology) research network, which brings together scholars working at the intersection of anthropology of law, organization studies, and science and technology studies. His current projects include 'Afterlives of Medical Research,' investigating scientific practice in Eastern Africa with particular attention to relations between fieldworkers and their fields.