2020 - present 
Leader of the research group "Marking Power: Embodied Dependencies, Haptic Regimes and Body Modification", Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), University of Bonn 

2024-2025
Substitute Professor of Anthropology of the Americas, Department of Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn

2016-2020
Research Associate, Morphomata Center for Advanced Studies, University of Cologne

2015 – 2017
Research group 'Religion and Development in the Global South', Center for Religion, Economy and Politics, University of Basel, Switzerland

2015 – 2016
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne

2014
PhD in Social Anthropology

2010 – 2013
Research associate and PhD candidate in the junior research group 'From the Caribbean to North America and Back', Transcultural Studies, University of Heidelberg.

2011 – 2012
Visiting Researcher at the School of Education and Humanities, Department of Language and Cultural Studies, University of Guyana

2005 – 2010
Studies of Human Geography, Indology and Social Anthropology at the University of Göttingen

Kloß, S. (2026), "Hair as sensory skin: Sensitive bodies, ritual shaving, and the maintenance of bodily boundaries in Hindu Suriname" in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 32(1): 269-292. Open Access

Kloß, S. (2025), “Skin” in Material Religion 21(4–5): 409–416. Access

Kloß, S. (2025), "Tattoos and Sonic Imitation: Mantras, Body Tuning and Tattooing as Sounding" in Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief 21(2): 137–159. Access

Kloß, S. (2025), "Sensitive Bodies: Materialisation, Energetic States and the Balancing of Bodily Boundaries During Pregnancy and Birth" in Body & Society 31(1–2). Access

Kloß, S. (2025), "Beyond Subordination versus Emancipation: Caribbean Godna (Tattoos) as Means of Recreating Social Relations and Affective Bonds" in: by Wolfram Kinzig and Barbara Loose, eds., Control, Coercion, and Constraint: The Role of Religion in Overcoming and Creating Structures of Dependency. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 205–224. Open access

Kloß, S. (2024), "Serving toward Release: Tattoos, Religious Work, and Coercion in Post-Indenture Communities" in Journal of Global Slavery 9: 17–42. Access

Kloß, S. (2024), "Tattooed Dependencies: Sensory Memory, Structural Violence and Narratives of Suffering among Caribbean Hindu Women" in: E. Brüggen, M. Gymnich, eds., Narratives of Dependency. Berlin: De Gruyter, 347–365. Open access

Kloß, S. (2024), "Talking History: Ethnographic Interviews, Intersectional Identities, and Power Negotiations in Research Encounters" in: Gero Bauer, Nicole Hirschfelder, and Fernando Resende, eds., Un-Mapping the Global South. Transdisciplinary Studies. New York: Routledge. Access

Kloß, S. (2023), "'We Knew It!': Caribbean Hindu Responses to Restrictions of Touch during COVID-19" in: Emily Zoe Hertzman, Natalie Lang, Erica M. Larson, and Carola E. Lorea, eds., CoronAsur: Asian Religions in the Covidian Age. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 129–133. Open access

Kloß, S. (2022), "Embodying Dependency: Caribbean Godna (Tattoos) as Female Subordination and Resistance" in The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 27(4): 601–612. Open access

Kloß, S. (2020), "Indelible Ink: An Introduction to the Histories, Narratives, and Practices of Tattooing." In Tattoo Histories: Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing, 3–30. New York: Routledge.

Kloß, S. (2020), Tattoo Histories: Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing, New York: Routledge. 

Gröne, K., Braun, B., Kloß, S., Schüller, M. and Bollig, M. (2020), Fairer Handel. Chancen, Grenzen, Herausforderungen, München: oekom.

Gröne, K., Braun, B., Kloß, S., Schüller, M. and Bollig, M. (2020), "Fairer Handel. Chancen, Grenzen, Herausforderungen – Einleitung" in: K. Gröne, B. Braun, S. Kloß, M. Schüller and M. Bollig, eds, Fairer Handel: Chancen, Grenzen, Herausforderungen. München: oekom, 7-14. 

Kloß, S. (2020), "Giving and development: Ethno-religious identities and ‘holistic development’ in Guyana" in: J. Koehrsen and A. Heuser, eds, Faith-Based Organizations in Development Discourses and Practice. London: Routledge, 113-138. 

Kloß, S. (2020), "Performing ‘Religiousness’: Negotiations of Religion and the Formation of Identity in Guyanese Development Organisations" in: A. Heuser and J. Koehrsen, eds, Does Religion Make a Difference? Religious NGOs in International Development Collaboration. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 191-205. 

Kloß, S. (2019), "Giving to Mother Ganga: Gift Exchange, Social Hierarchy and the Notion of Pollution in Transnational Guyanese Hindu Communities" in: L. Aje, T. Lacroix and J. Mizrahi-Barak, eds, Re-Imagining the Guyanas. Montpellier: Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, 215-228.

Kloß, S. (2019), "Guyana" in: W. Gieler and M. Porsche-Ludwig, eds, Staatenlexikon Amerika. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 219-226.

Kloß, S. (2019), "Suriname" in: W. Gieler and M. Porsche-Ludwig, eds, Staatenlexikon Amerika. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 411-416. 

Kloß, S. (2019), "Translocal Puja: The Relevance of Locality and Materiality in Transnational Guyanese Hindu Communities" in: A. Sahoo and B. Purkayastha, eds, Routledge Handbook of Indian Transnationalism. 1st Edition ed. New York: Routledge, 69-77. 

Kloß, S. (2018), "Staying in Touch: Used Clothes and the Role of Materiality in Transnational Guyanese Gift Exchange" in: A. Bandau, A. Brüske and N. Ueckmann, eds, Reshaping Glocal Dynamics of the Caribbean: Relaciones y Desconexiones, Relations et Déconnexions, Relations and Disconnections. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 351-365.

Salverda, T., Schneider, N., Hollington, A., Kloß, S. and Tappe, O. (2018). Special Issue: Controlling knowledge and the role of engaged intellectuals. Voices from Around the World, 1. 

Kloß, S. (2017), "Performing Authenticity through Fashion: Sartorial Contestations of Guyanese Indianness and the Creation of the Indian 'Other'" in: E. Mora and M. Pedroni, eds, Fashion Tales: Feeding the Imaginary. Bern Bruxelles Frankfurt am Main New York: Peter Lang, 327-344. 

Kloß, S. and Duck, L. (eds.) 2017. The Global South as Subversive Practice. Special Issue of The Global South 11 (2), 1st ed., Indiana University Press. 

Kloß, S. (2017). Contesting ‚Gifts from Jesus‘: Conversion, Charity, and the Distribution of Used Clothing in Guyana. Social Sciences and Missions, 3(30), pp. 346-365. 

Kloß, S. (2017). Manifesting Kali’s Power: Guyanese Hinduism and the Revitalisation of the ‚Madras Tradition‘. Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, 41(1), pp. 83 - 110. 

Kloß, S. (2017). Sexual(ized) Harassment and Ethnographic Fieldwork. A Silenced Aspect of Social Research. Ethnography,.

Kloß, S. (2017). The Global South as Subversive Practice: Challenges and Potentials of a Heuristic Concept. The Global South as Subversive Practice. Special Issue of The Global South, 11(2), pp. 1-17. 

Krause, F., Salverda, T., Hollington, A., Tappe, O., Kloß, S. and Schneider, N. (2017). Social Water. Voices from around the World. Global South Studies Center,(3). 

Krause, F., Salverda, T., Hollington, A., Tappe, O., Kloß, S. and Schneider, N. (2017). Is a River “Infrastructure”? Thinking About Timber Transport on the Kemi River in Finnish Lapland. Voices from around the World. Global South Studies Center,(3).

Kloß, S. (2016), Fabrics of Indianness: The Exchange and Consumption of Clothing in Transnational Guyanese Hindu Communities, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Hollington, A., Schwarz, T., Tappe, O., Salverda, T., Kloß, S. and Schneider, N. (2016). Special Issue: Multilingualism in the Global South. Voices from Around the World,(3). Available at: URL. 

Kloß, S. (2016). Conference Report of the conference Reshaping (g)local dynamics of the Caribbean: Relaciones y Desconexiones - Relations et Déconnections - Relations and Disconnections 14.10.2015 - 17.10.2015. H - Soz - Kult,. 

Kloß, S. (2016). Review of Food and Identity by Garth, H. (ed.). Passato e Presente, 98, pp. 181 - 183. 

Tappe, O., Hollington, A., Kloß, S., Salverda, T. and Schneider, N. (2016). Editorial: Global Modernities and the (Re-)Emergence of Ghosts. Voices from around the world, 2016/2. Available at: URL. 

Kloß, S. (2015). Der multiethnische Faktor: Bei den Parlamentswahlen in Guyana löst ein gemischtes Bündnis nach 23 Jahren die indisch geprägte Regierungspartei ab. Lateinamerika Nachrichten, 493/494, pp. 62-64. 

Kloß, S. (2014), "The Caribbean (on the) Dining Tale: Contextualizing Culinary Cultures", Caribbean Food Cultures: Culinary Practices and Consumption in the Caribbean and its Diasporas. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 11-24.

Beushausen, W., Brüske, A., Commichau, A., Helber, P. and Kloß, S. (eds.) 2014. Caribbean Food Cultures: Culinary Practices and Consumption in the Caribbean and its Diasporas, 1st ed., Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. 

Special Issues

Kloß, S. & A. Villinger (2025), Special Issue “Pregnant Bodies – Embodied Pregnancy”. Body & Society 31(1–2). Introduction 3-37. 

Kloß, S., Leetsch, J. (2024), Special Issue Indentured Bodies / Embodiments of Indenture. Journal of Indentureship and Its Legacies 2024 4(2). Introduction  

Edited Volumes

Kloß, S., Gremels, A., Schmieder, U. (2026), Competing Memories of Enslavement, Emancipation and Indentureship: The Politics of Remembering in the Caribbean. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. Open access.

Kloß, S., Muders, L., Tagliati, T. (2025), Transforming Spirit Bodies: Materialization and Embodied Dependencies in South America. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. Open access

Kloß, S. (2020), Tattoo Histories: Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing. Routledge Studies in Cultural History. New York: Routledge.