Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies (AOI) Dept. of Indology Head of Department Nauklerstr. 35 | room 3.07 | 72074 Tuebingen phone: +49-7071-29-74005 Email: heike.oberlin[at]uni-tuebingen.de   Office hours: On appointment (via email)

Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin (née Moser) is Head of the Department of Indology and, since 1 October 2026, University Equal Opportunities Officer at the University of Tübingen (Team Equity).

Heike Oberlin studied Indology and Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Tübingen and earned her doctorate in Indology at the University of Würzburg with summa cum laude. Her dissertation explored the Sanskrit theatre tradition Kūṭiyāṭṭam (Naṅṅyār-Kūttu – ein Teilaspekt des Sanskrittheaterkomplexes Kūṭiyāṭṭam, Harrassowitz, 2008). In May 2013, she completed her habilitation and received the venia legendi in Indology. In December 2016, she was appointed an außerplanmäßige Professorin (adjunct professor). In March and April 2025, she was a visiting professor at Sapienza University of Rome.

From 1995 to 2001, she trained in Kūṭiyāṭṭam and Naṅṅyār-Kūttu under Kalamandalam P. N. Girija and Kalamandalam Rama Chakyar at Kerala Kalamandalam in India. She performed regularly in India and Europe. Since then, her research and teaching have focused on this theatre tradition and the Malayalam language. In 2015, she established the “Gundert Chair” programme for Malayalam in Tübingen in collaboration with Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University.

Heike Oberlin has received several awards in recognition of her scholarship and wider engagement. In 2008, she received the Ernst Waldschmidt Prize. In 2018, the Kerala State Higher Education Council honoured her as a Scholar in Residence under its Erudite Programme (article in attempto). In 2019, she received the Gisela Bonn Prize from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations for her outstanding contributions to Indo-German relations (press release).

In academic self-governance, Heike Oberlin is particularly committed to equal opportunities and the representation of non-professorial academic staff. Before taking office as University Equal Opportunities Officer, she served as Deputy University Equal Opportunities Officer from March 2024 to September 2026. Since March 2024, she has represented the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV) at the University of Tübingen. She was a member of the University Council from October 2021 to September 2026. From 2020 to 2025, she served as Spokesperson for the State Representation of Non-Professorial Academic Staff at Universities in Baden-Württemberg (LAM-BW), and she has been its Deputy Spokesperson since May 2025. From 2020 to 2024, she also served as Deputy Spokesperson of DFG Review Board 106 “Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies”.

Research interests

• Performing arts of India
• Sanskrit theatre, specially Kūṭiyāṭṭam (see Einführungstext mit Bildern und Videobeispiel and Bibliography)
• Manuscript studies, specially South Indian palm leaf manuscripts
• Malayalam: language, script, literature (see Malayāḷam)
• Kerala studies
• Gender studies
• Digital humanities
• Folk religions of India
• Hinduism
• History of Indology

Further information

• Curriculum Vitae
• Publications
• Presentations & talks
• Lectures & courses
• Field trips
• Conferences & workshops
• Research projects
• Committee work
• Memberships
• Einführung mit Bildern und Videoausschnitt in das südindische Sanskrittheater Kūṭiyāṭṭam [Introduction to the South Indian Sanskrit theatre tradition Kutiyattam with images and a film clip, in German language]
• Malayāḷam / മലയാളം

Focus South India & the “Gundert Chair” programme for Malayalam

• Focus South India - a cooperation between the Dept. of Indology and the Dept. of Social and Cultural Anthropology
• The “Gundert Chair” programe for Malayalam
• The DFG-funded project Das Hermann-Gundert-Portal: Digitalisierung und Erschließung des Nachlasses von Hermann Gundert (manuscripts and prints) and supplementary works from his environment at the University Library of Tübingen (2016-2018) with the Gundert Portal