Siri Lamoureaux

Siri Lamoureaux is an anthropologist and Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department (Workplace Studies) at the University of Siegen, Germany. She is affiliated with the SFB 1187 project "Media of Cooperation" and participates in the "Technoscapes in Africa" project with Richard Rottenburg and other members of the Law, Organisation, Science and Technology (LOST) network. She is also an associate of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the Centre d'études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales (CEDEJ Khartoum) based in Sudan, and an active member of AOEN, the Africa Off-Earth Network.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Social Anthropology (2017), Martin Luther University / Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, with dissertation titled "Virtuous language: gendered morality and ethnonational politics among Moro Christians in Khartoum"
• MPhil in African Studies (2009), Leiden University, with thesis "Message in a Mobile: mixed messages, tales of missing and mobile communities at the University of Khartoum"
• Master of Arts in Linguistics (2004), University of Oregon, with thesis "Applicative Constructions in Maasai"
• Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics (1999), University of California, Santa Barbara

Lamoureaux is an anthropologist drawing inspiration from pragmatist approaches in linguistic and semiotic anthropology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and moral and feminist philosophy. Since 2008, she has conducted extensive fieldwork in Sudan, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, focusing on digital technologies and activism, gender, social and religious movements, morality, language and literacy, sexual violence, and ethnic identity. Her current research extends these interests into the field of space science, studying how spatial and terrestrial scientific objects are identified, documented, categorized, and made actionable through sensory media technology. She examines satellite assemblages in desertification projects in the Africa Sahel and the Square Kilometer Array, a radio telescope observatory spanning Africa and Australia.

Her publication record shows a clear trajectory from early work on mobile phone communication in Khartoum to sophisticated analyses of complex technoscientific assemblages in space science projects. While maintaining a consistent theoretical grounding in linguistic anthropology and STS, her research has expanded to address how values, norms, chronotopes, spirituality, emotions, and cognitive models figure in knowledge construction across diverse contexts—from the streets of Khartoum to astronomical observatories spanning continents.

Dr. Lamoureaux is actively involved in multiple research projects:

• Technoscapes in Africa: Examines the coproduction of technicisation and spatial orders across Africa by focusing on datafication and remote sensing in health and environment domains
• Visualizing the electromagnetic spectrum: Explores how spatial and terrestrial scientific objects are identified, categorized and made actionable by scholars, technicians, and sensory media technology
• Nuba Mountains Studies: Provides a platform for research on the Nuba Mountain region
• Adaptation and Creativity in Africa (Completed): Examined how technologies and significations are entwined while traveling
• Virtuous Language (Completed): Explored identity and gendered moral enactment through Christianity among the Moro Nuba in Sudan

Her teaching portfolio reflects her interdisciplinary approach, including courses such as "Artificial Intelligence: promises and practices," "Language, Media and Technology," "Telescopes, satellites, drones and the sociology of 'seeing'," and "Black Lives Matter," demonstrating her commitment to connecting anthropological theory with contemporary technological and social justice issues.