Present Appointment
Senior Lecturer in Urdu, South Asia Institute,
University of Heidelberg, Dept. of Modern Indology (Modern South Asian
Languages and Literatures)
Teaching Experience
- beginners’ courses in Urdu and Hindi
- intensive courses in Urdu (summer schools)
- advanced courses in Urdu (prose and poetry readings; translation
exercises)
- courses on various aspects of Urdu literature, such as:
- the history of Urdu literature from the Dakini period to the 20th
century,
- innovation and tradition in modern Urdu poetry,
- feminine sensibility in Urdu poetry,
- the development of the Urdu novel,
- Urdu novels and short stories on partition,
- Urdu novels on Muslims in India (dealing with the novels of
Qurratulain Hyder and Abdussamad),
- the Urdu drama,
- narrative techniques and strategies in modern Urdu fiction etc.
- adab-literature for Muslim women
- Ghalib – his ghazals in the context of film (Indian TV serial by
Gulzar)
- Umrao Jan Ada: novel and film(s)
Participation in
Conferences
- 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th
and 17th European Conferences on Modern South
Asian Studies (Berlin 1992, Kopenhagen 1996,
Prague 1998, Edinburgh 2000, Heidelberg 2002,
Lund 2004, Leiden 2006)
- 7th International
Conference on Early Literature in New Indo-Aryan
Languages, Venedig, 1997
- Workshop on “Literary
Histories for 19th Century India” , Berkeley,
September 1999
- International
Symposium on “Agenda for Urdu Education in 21st
Century India” , New Delhi, Februar 2001
- “Urdu Scholarship in
Transnational Perspective” (Conference in honour
of Prof. C.M. Naim), South Asian Institute,
Columbia University, September 2001
- International
conference “New Perspectives on Pakistan:
Contexts, Realities, and Visions for the
Future”, April 2003, Columbia University, New
York
- Seventh Sustainable
Development Conference (SDC) “Troubled Times.
Sustainable Development and Governance in the
Age of Extremes”, Islamabad 2004
- International Urdu
Conference, Islamabad, März 2005
- Conference on “Islam
and Satire”, Hamburg, February 2007
- International
Conference “Bridging the Distances: Urdu Across
Borders”, Mumbai, March 2007
- International Seminar
on Muhammad Iqbal, Hongkong, November 2007
- International
Conference “Revisioning Iqbal”, Heidelberg,
November 2007
- Urdufest 2008,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
September 2008
- International
Conference “Literature and National
Consciousness”, University of Khairpur/Sindh,
Oktober 2008
Publications
Research articles
- articles on Urdu
writers (Quli Qutb Shah, Mulla Vajhi, Vali
Dakhini, Sauda, Ghalib, Nazir Ahmad, Sharar,
Sarshar, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Manto, Bedi, Ismat
Chughtai, Rashid Jahan, Qurratulain Hyder, Ahmad
Nadim Qasmi, Faiz, N.M. Rashed, Mira Ji, Intizar
Husain, and many others) in several lexicons of
foreign writers (in German)
- 'Voices from the inner
courtyard' (On early women poets of Urdu), in
Tender Ironies. Festschrift für Lothar Lutze.
New Delhi: Manohar, 1994.
- 'Die Begegnung mit dem
Westen als kulturelle Herausforderung: Ibnul
Vaqt von Nazir Ahmad'. Ibnul Vaqt by Nazir
Ahmad), in Nanavidhaikata. Festschrift für
Hermann Berger. Köln 1996.
- 'Kein Platz für
Muslime in Indien?' (basierend auf Urdu-Romanen
von Qurratulain Hyder, Abdussamad und Altaf
Fatima), in Religion - Macht - Gewalt.
Religiöser ‘Fundamentalismus’ und Hindu-Moslem-Konflikte
in Südasien. Frankfurt/M.: IKO, 1997.
- 'Deconstructing a
"Deconstructionist" Urdu Story: Ek kahani ganga
jamni by Kaisar Tamkeen'. Annual of Urdu
Studies 14 (1999): 103-117.
- 'Nazir Ahmad and the
Urdu Novel: Some Observations.' Annual of
Urdu Studies 16 (2001): 27-42.
- ‘An Evening of Caged
Beasts (A Review Article)’, Annual of Urdu
Studies 16 (2001): 319-328.
- 'Das exemplarische
Leben einer Muslimin: Die Fasana-i Nadir Jahan',
in: Dirk Lönne (ed.), Tohfa-e-Dil.
Festschrift für Helmut Nespital. Reinbek:
Dr. Inge Wezler Verlag 2001, 373-390.
- ‘Das Wort des Dichters
hat Gewicht: Zum Stellenwert von Lyrik in
Pakistan’, in: Weltmission heute: Länderheft
Pakistan. Hamburg: EMW, 2002: 229-241.
- 'Azra Abbas. Mera
Bacpan' (A Review Article), Annual of
Urdu Studies 18 (2003): 593-600.
- ‘Entertainment and
Reform: Urdu Narrative Genres in the Nineteenth
Century’, in: Stuart Blackburn, Vasudha Dalmis
(eds.), India’s Literary History. Essays on
the Nineteenth Century. New Delhi:
permanent black, 2004: 167-212.
- 'Urdu and Muslim
women', in: Daniela Bredi (ed.), Islam in
South Asia (monographic number of Oriente
Modern, No.1, 2004): 217-243.
- 'Urdu Literature in
Pakistan: A Site for Alternative Visions and
Dissent', Annual of Urdu Studies No. 20
(2005): 79-98.
- „Bombay: Literarische
Bilder einer Großstadt.“ In: Ravi Ahuja /
Christiane Brosius (Hg.) Mumbai - Delhi -
Kolkata. Annäherungen an die Megastädte Indiens.
Heidelberg: Draupadi Verlag, 2006: 81-98.
- ‘Visions and values:
Some recent Urdu novels’, in: Troubled
Times. Sustainable Development and Governance in
the Age of Extremes. Islamabad: SDPI/Sama,
2006: 619-629.
- 'Deputy Nazir Ahmad
and the Delhi College', in: Margrit Pernau
(ed.), The Delhi College. Traditional
Elites, the Colonial State, and Education before
1857. New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2006: 299-324.
- "A Foreigner's
Reflections on the Status of Urdu and Urdu
Education in India", in: Ather Farouqui (ed.),
Redefining Urdu Politics in India. Delhi [u.a.]:
OUP, 2006: 193-204.
- "Quälende
Erinnerungen. Die Ereignisse von 1947 und 1971
in der Urdu-Literatur", in: Südasien, 26/2-3
(2006): 21-23.
- “The Frustrated Hero“,
in Brückner, Heidrun, Hugh van Skyhawk and Claus
Peter Zoller (eds.), The Concept of Hero in
Indian Culture. New Delhi: Manohar, 2007:
121-132.
- “Urdu Literature in
Pakistan: A Site for Alternative Visions and
Dissent” (unabridged version), in Saeed Shafqat
(ed.), New Perspectives on Pakistan. Visions for
the Future. Karachi: OUP, 2007: 152-175.
- “Pakistan in den Augen
eines Bestseller-Autors: Der Roman Rakh (Asche)
von Mustansar Husain Tarar, in Saeed Chaudhry,
Hermann Kreutzmann, Paul Lehrieder und Norbert
Pintsch (Hrsg.), 60 Jahre Pakistan. Aufbruch,
Errungenschaften und Herausforderungen. Deutsch-Pakistanisches
Forum Bonn-Berlin: 2007: 038-048.
- „Islam und Satire. Ein
Tagungsbericht.“ in Südasien Nr. 2/2007:
101-104.
- “The Frustrated Hero.
The Image of the Hero in Contemporary Urdu
Stories”, in Heidrun Br[ckner, Hugh van Skzhawk
and Claus Peter Zoller (eds.), The Concept of
Hero inIndian Culture. New Delhi: Manohar, 2007:
121-132.
- Okzidentalismus oder
das Wissen vom Westen. Bilder des Westens in
zeitgenössischer Urdu-Literatur aus Pakistan und
Deutschland. online-Publikation, Februar 2008,
URL: http://orient.ruf.uni-freiburg.de/dotpub/oesterheld.pdf,
ISSN 1866-2943
- „Qurratulain Hyder.
Tod einer literarischen Ikone.“ in: Südasien Nr.
4/2007-1/2008: 10-13.
- „In Pursuit of
Qurratulain Hyder – (Partly) a Detective Story“,
in Annual of Urdu Studies 23 (2008): 196-201.
Translations into German
of following authors and works
- excerpts from the
novels Ag ka darya, Gardish-i rang-i caman and
Chandni begam by Qurratulain Hyder
- short stories by Ismat
Cughtai, Jeelani Bano, Intizar Husain, Enver
Sajjad, Sajid Rashid, Salam bin Razzaq, Surendra
Prakash, Azra Abbas, Anwer Khan, and Khalida
Husain
- poems by Balraj Komal,
Nida Fazli, Jamiluddin Aali, Iftikhar Arif,
Kishwar Naheed, Fahmida Riaz, Ahmad Faraz, Wazir
Agha, Azra Abbas, Parveen Shakir, Zeeshan Sahil
and others
- Anand Sangeet, 'Der
Umschlag', in: Ulrike Stark (Hg.), Mauern und
Fenster. Neue Erzählungen aus Indien.
Heidelberg: Draupadi Verlag, 2006: 125-134.
- Saadat Hasan Manto,
Schwarze Notizen. (Selected and translated from
the Urdu by Christina Oesterheld). Frankfurt a.M.:
Suhrkamp, 2006.
- Kishwar Naheed, “Die
Geschichte einer schlechten Frau” (extracts from
Buri caurat ki katha), in Südasien Nr. 3/2007:
4-8.
Co-author
- Wörterbuch
Hindi-Deutsch. (Hindi-German dictionary)
(contributor) Hamburg: Hermann Buske Verlag,
2002.
Edited works
- Erkundungen. 23
Erzählungen aus Indien. (Explorations. 23
stories from India), ed. by P. Hörder, H. Lötzke,
Ch. Oesterheld and H.J. Volkert, Berlin: Volk
und Welt, 1990.
- Gestehts! Die
Dichter des Orients sind größer: Urdu-Literatur.
(Selections from contemporary Urdu
literature)Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, 1991.
- Of Clowns and
Gods, Brahmans and Babus. Humour in South Asian
Literatures. ed. by Christina Oesterheld
and Claus Peter Zoller. New Delhi: Manohar 1999.
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