Heike Oberlin
Heike Oberlin (born 1970), formerly published under the name Heike Moser, is a German Indologist. She is an associate professor (außerplanmäßige Professorin) and head of department of the Department of Indology at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Tübingen.[1] She is married to literary and cultural scholar Gerhard Oberlin.[2]
Early life, education and career
Oberlin studied Indology and Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Tübingen from 1990 to 1999, graduating with a Magistra Artium degree. Alongside her academic studies, she received practical training in the traditional South Indian dance form Bharatanatyam in Stuttgart and Chennai from 1989 to 1995.
From 1995 to 1997, she studied Kutiyattam at Kerala Kalamandalam in India with a joint scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Her engagement with the traditional Sanskrit theatre combined academic research with practical training. She made her first public Kutiyattam stage appearance in 1995 and subsequently performed Bharatanatyam and Kutiyattam and taught practice-oriented workshops.[3][4]
In 2004, Oberlin received her doctorate in Indology, summa cum laude, from the University of Würzburg. She was a research associate in the Department of Indology at the University of Tübingen from 2005 to 2008. In 2008, she became an academic lecturer and later a senior academic lecturer at the university.
Oberlin completed her habilitation in Indology at the University of Tübingen in 2013 and was awarded the Venia legendi. She was appointed an associate professor in December 2016 and has served as managing director of the Department of Indology since February 2020.[3]
From 2003 to 2013, she was president of the German-Indian Cultural Society in Tübingen. She served on the advisory board of the international interfaith music festival Musica Sacra International from 2020 to 2026.[5] In March and April 2025, she spent one month as a visiting professor at Sapienza University of Rome.[1]
Her research interests include Kutiyattam, Malayalam language and literature, Kerala studies, South Asian performance traditions, palm-leaf manuscripts, gender studies, digital humanities, and the history of Indology.[1][6]
Research and teaching projects
Together with David Shulman, Oberlin directed the project Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Living Sanskrit Theater in the Kerala Tradition from 2013 to 2016. The project was funded by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.[7]
She also participated in a German Research Foundation-funded project to digitise and catalogue the papers of missionary and linguist Hermann Gundert at the University Library of Tübingen. The digitised collection was made available through the Gundert Portal.[8][2]
In 2020, Oberlin and Frank Köhler directed the exhibition and book project Die 1000 Namen Vishnus: Viṣṇusahasranāma at the Museum of the University of Tübingen. The project focused on two illustrated Sanskrit manuscripts from the collection of Heide and Wolfgang Voelter and included an online exhibition.[9]
Oberlin has taught Malayalam at the University of Tübingen since the 2008–2009 winter semester. In October 2015, she and K. Jayakumar, then vice-chancellor of Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University in Tirur, established the Gundert Chair programme for Malayalam and Kerala studies at the University of Tübingen.[10][11]
Selected works
- Moser, Heike. Naṅṅyār-Kūttu – ein Teilaspekt des Sanskrittheaterkomplexes Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Historische Entwicklung und performative Textumsetzung. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2008. ISBN 978-3-447-05729-9 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: Invalid ISBN. Search this book on
.. - Moser, Heike. Kūṭiyāṭṭam: A Bibliography. Tübingen, 2011. urn:nbn:de:bsz:21-opus-58955:{{{2}}}.
- Brückner, Heidrun; de Bruin, Hanne M.; Moser, Heike, eds. Between Fame and Shame: Performing Women – Women Performers in India. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2011. ISBN 978-3-447-06281-7 Search this book on ..
- Köhn, Stephan; Moser, Heike, eds. Frauenbilder – Frauenkörper: Inszenierungen des Weiblichen in den Gesellschaften Süd- und Ostasiens. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2013. ISBN 978-3-447-06858-1 Search this book on ..
- Oberlin, Heike; Shulman, David, eds. Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Mantrāṅkam and Aṅgulīyāṅkam. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2019. ISBN 978-0-19-948359-4 Search this book on ..
- Oberlin, Heike; Köhler, Frank, eds. Die 1000 Namen Vishnus: Viṣṇusahasranāma. Sanskrit-Handschriften aus der Sammlung Heide und Wolfgang Voelter. Museum of the University of Tübingen and University Library of Tübingen, Tübingen, 2020. ISBN 978-3-9821339-6-6 Search this book on ..[12]
Awards and honours
- 2008: Ernst Waldschmidt Prize of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation for scholarly work in Indology.[1]
- 2018: Scholar in Residence at Kerala Kalamandalam under the Erudite programme of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.[13]
- 2019: Gisela Bonn Prize, awarded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the German–Indian Society for contributions to German–Indian relations.[14]
Academic service
Oberlin is due to take office as the elected equal opportunities officer of the University of Tübingen on 1 October 2026. She previously served as an elected member of the university senate and subsequently of the university council.
From 2020 to 2024, she was deputy spokesperson of Review Board 106, “Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies”, of the German Research Foundation. From 2020 to 2025, she served as spokesperson of the Baden-Württemberg State Representation of Academic Staff at Universities and subsequently became its deputy spokesperson.[15]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin". University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Unnikrishnan, S. (3 January 2020). "German Indologist hands over digitised collection of works of Hermann Gundert". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Curriculum Vitae: Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin". University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Heike Oberlin: Wie aus einem Tanz ein erfülltes Leben wurde". Südwest Presse (in Deutsch). 2 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Beirat" (in Deutsch). Musica Sacra International. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Heike Oberlin: Mut zur Neugier". theinder.net (in Deutsch). 6 October 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Third-party funded research projects: Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin". University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Gundert-Chair: Fünf Terabyte für Kerala". Südwest Presse (in Deutsch). 4 March 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Die 1000 Namen Vishnus – eine Schenkung und ihre Folgen" (in Deutsch). Museum of the University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Die südindische Sprache Malayāḷam" (in Deutsch). University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Indien stiftet Gastdozentur an der Universität Tübingen" (in Deutsch). Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Publikationen: Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin" (in Deutsch). University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "ERUDITE Scholar-in-Residence lecture series by Indology scholar from Tübingen University". Welcome Kerala Online. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Gisela-Bonn-Preis 2019" (PDF) (in Deutsch). Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Committee work: Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin". University of Tübingen. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
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