Prof. Dr. Friederike Pannewick

Friederike Pannewick

Head, Professor

Contact information

+49 6421 28-24814 +49 6421 28-24829 pannewick@ 1 Deutschhausstraße 12
35032 Marburg
F|14 Institutsgebäude (Room: 00A28)
nach Vereinbarung

Organizational unit

Philipps-Universität Marburg Centrum für Nah- und Mittelost-Studien (CNMS) Arabic Studies

Friederike Pannewick

Main research areas

Modern Arabic literature and culture
Arabic theater and performance
Cultural and intellectual history of the Arab world
Historical and literary anthropology
Comparative studies and developments in world literature

  • Vita

    Prof. Dr, studied Oriental Studies at the University of Bamberg, Arabic and Turkish Studies at the Sorbonne and the Institut National des Langues Orientales/Paris and the Drama Academy in Damascus. She completed her masters at the Free University of Berlin in Arabic and Turkish Studies, her thesis – published in 1993 – dealing with the Middle East conflict as represented in a Syrian play. After working as a research associate in a DFG project (“The Cultural Self-Assertion of the Palestinians”), where she compiled a lexicon of modern Palestinian poetry, as a recipient of a scholarship of the German National Academic Foundation she earned her doctorate in Arabic and Theatre Studies at the FU Berlin with a dissertation on the role of tradition in Arab theatricality (Das Wagnis Tradition. Arabische Wege der Theatralität, 2000).

    After once again working as a lecturer at the FU Berlin, in 2001 Friederike Pannewick took over the leadership of the project “Cultural Mobility in Middle Eastern Literatures” in the work group Modernity and Islam at Berlin’s Institute for Advanced Studies. A follow-up project was realized, supported by the Thyssen Foundation, “Travelling Traditions – Comparative Perspectives on Near Eastern Literatures” from 2005 to 2011 (co-directorship with Dr. Samah Selim).

    Between 2005 and 2007 she was Associate Professor for Arabic Studies at the University of Oslo, Department for Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS) and in September 2007 appointed a University Professor at the Philips University Marburg, the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS), in the Department of Arabic Literature and Culture.

  • Publications

    BOOKS

    (2021) (together with: Yvonne Albers, Ines Braune, Christian Junge, Felix Lang) Arabistik. Eine literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Einführung. J.B.Metzler Verlag

    (2021) Entanglements of the Maghreb. Cultural and Political Aspects of a Region in Motion. (Eds.) Julius Dihstelhoff, Charlotte Pardey, Rachid Ouaissa und Friederike Pannewick. Transcript Verlag

    (2020) Re-Configurations. Contextualising Transformation Processes in the Middle East and North Africa. (Eds.) Rachid Ouaissa, Friederike Pannewick und Alena Strohmaier. Wiesbaden, Springer VS

    (2015) Commitment and Beyond. Reflections on/of the Political in Arabic Literature since the 1940s. (Eds.) Friederike Pannewick und Georges Khalil. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag

    (2012) Opfer, Tod und Liebe. Visionen des Märtyriums in der arabischen Literatur. München, W. Fink Verlag (Trajekte. Eine Reihe des Zentrums für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin, hg. von S. Weigel und K. Barck)

    (2012) Conflicting Narratives: War, Violence and Memory in Iraqi Culture, (Eds.) Stephan Milich, Friederike Pannewick und Leslie Tramontini. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag (Literaturen im Kontext – Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch)

    (2006) ArabAmericas. Literary Entanglements of the American Hemisphere and the Arab World. (Eds.) Ottmar Ette und Friederike Pannewick. Frankfurt am Main/Madrid, Ibero-Americana

    (2004) Martyrdom and Literature. Death and Meaningful Suffering in Europe and the Middle East from Antiquity to Modernity. (Ed.) Friederike Pannewick. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag

    (2003) Crossings and Passages in Genre and Culture. (Eds.) Friederike Pannewick und Christian Szyska. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag

    (2001) Bio-bibliographischer Survey der modernen palästinensischen Dichtung. Angelika Neuwirth, Birgit Embaló und Friederike Pannewick. Beirut und Wiesbaden, Ergon Verlag (Beiruter Texte und Studien 71)

    (2000) Das Wagnis Tradition. Arabische Wege der Theatralität. Dissertation. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag

    (1993) Der andere Blick. Eine syrische Stimme zur Palästinafrage: Übersetzung und Analyse des Dramas 'Die Vergewaltigung' von Sa'dallah Wannus in seinem interkulturellen Kontext. Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag

    ARTICLES

    (2023) Arabische Literatur in Deutschland. Eine neue transnationale Öffentlichkeit im 21. Jahrhundert?, in: Literatur im öffentlichen Raum. Sonderband Text + Kritik X/23, hg.v. Doren Wohlleben, 86-98. 

    (2022) Dīma Wannūs, Al-Ḫāʼifūn, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2022) Silence and Radical Rethinking in Syrian Theatre of the Long 1980s, in: TRAFO Blog. Blog for Transregional Research

    (2021) The Failure of Revolutionary Humanism: Reading Wannous with Fanon, in: The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous. A Critical Study of the Syrian Playwright and Public Intellectual, ed. by Sonja Mejecher-Atassi; Robert Myers, Cambridge University Press, 78-95.

    (2021) The Poetics and Politics of the Body in Pain. Sinan Antoon’s Novel ‘The Corpse Washer’, in: L. Gomez-Pepescu (ed.): Performing Human Rights. Contested Amnesia and Aesthetic Practices in the Global South. Zürich, Diaphanes Verlag

    (2020) Gewalt ohne Heldentum. Zur Poetik und Politik des entheroisierten Todes in der arabischen Erzählliteratur des 21. Jahrhunderts, in: O. Gölz, C. Brink (eds.): Gewalt und Heldentum. Ergon Verlag, 211-224

    (2020) The Year 1979 as a Turning Point in Syrian Theatre: From Politicization to Critical Humanism, in: R. Ouaissa, F. Pannewick, A. Strohmeier (eds.): Re-Configurations. Contextualising Transformation Processes in the Middle East and North Africa. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 277-287

    (2020) Re-Configurations: A New Conceptual Framework for Research on the MENA-Region, in: R. Ouaissa, F. Pannewick, A. Strohmeier (eds.): Re-Configurations. Contextualising Transformation Processes in the Middle East and North Africa. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 1-21

    (4/2020) The ‘1979 Moment’ in Syrian Theatre: From Politicization to an ‘Inward Turn’?, in: TRAFO. Blog for Transregional Research

    (2020) Icons of Revolutionary Upheaval: Arab Spring Martyrs, in: I. Saloul, J. W. van Henten (eds.): Martyrdom. Canonisation, Contestation and Afterlives. Amsterdam University Press, 203-220

    (2018) „Rūzā Yāsīn Ḥasan, Ḥurrās al-hawāʾ“, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2018) „Samar Yazbak, Rāʾiḥat al-qirfa “, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2018) „Fawwāz Ḥaddād, Ğunūd Allāh“, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2017) Grenzgänger des Umbruchs. Der symbolische Kampf um das Gedenken an Helden und Märtyrer des 'Arabischen Frühlings',  in: F. Heinze, J. Leonhard, R. von den Hoff (eds.): Sakralität und Heldentum. Zum Relationsgeflecht von Heroischem und Religiösem. Würzburg, Ergon Verlag, 263-286

    (2017) Selbstopfer und Subversion. Erfahrungen des Extremen in der arabischen Literatur und Gesellschaft, in: C.F. Laferl, Anja Tippner (eds.): Extreme Erfahrungen: Grenzen des Erlebens und der Darstellung. Berlin, Kulturverlag Kadmos, 73-101

    (2/2016) Nah- und Mitteloststudien: Cultural Mobility sollte schon im Studium "mit der Muttermilch aufgesogen werden", in: TRAFO. Blog for Transregional Research

    (2015) From the Politicization of Theater to Individual Humanism: Towards a New Concept of Engagement in the Theater of Saadallah Wannous, in: F. Pannewick, G. Khalil (eds.), Commitment and Beyond. Reflections on/of the Political in Arabic Literature since the 1940s. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag 2015, 221-233

    (2015) Introduction: Tracks and Traces of Literary Commitment - On Iltizam as an Ongoing Intellectual Project (together with Y. Albers and G. Khalil), in: F. Pannewick, G. Khalil (eds.), Commitment and Beyond. Reflections on/of the Political in Arabic Literature since the 1940s. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag 2015, 9-25

    (3/2014) Subversion in der arabischen Literatur, in: Wissenschaft und Frieden (Aug., 32. Jg.), 7-9

    (2014) Art. Sinan Antoon "Iʿğām", in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2014) Art. Aḥmad Ḫālid Tawfīq, "Utopia", in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2014) Art. Nihād Sīrīs, „aṣ-Ṣaḫab wa-Ṣamt“, in Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Aufl., J.B. Metzler

    (2012) Introduction, Milich/Pannewick/Tramontini, in: dies. (eds.), Conflicting Narratives. War, trauma and memory in Iraqi culture. Wiesbaden, Reichert, Xi-XVIII

    (2012) Dancing Letters: The Art of Subversion in Sinān Antūn's Novel "I‘jām", in: Conflicting Narratives, 65-74

    (2010) Pathos und Passion. Antworten arabischer Autoren auf Krieg, Gewalt und Tod, in: Historische Anthropologie, Jg. 18, H.2. S. 275-294; Wiederabdruck in: , Horsch/Treml (eds.): Grenzgänger der Religionskulturen. München, Fink 2011

    (2010) Historical Memory in Times of Decline. Saadallah Wannous and Rereading History, in: Angelika Neuwirth, Andreas Pflitsch, Barbara Winckler (eds.). London, Saqi 2010, 97-109

    (2009) Performativity and Mobility. Middle Eastern Performative Traditions on the Move, in: Stephen Greenblatt (ed.): Cultural Mobility. A Manifesto. Cambridge University Press, 215-249

    (2009) Art. Salāḥ  ‘Abdaṣṣabūr - das dramatische Werk, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2009) Art. Mohammad Choukri – Al-ḫubs al-ḥāfī, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2009) Art. Taufīq al-Ḥaqīm, Ahl al-kahf, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2009) Art. Ġassān Kanafānī – Kurzromane, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2009) Art. Ġāda Sammān – Kawābīs Bairūt, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2009) Art. Sa‘dallāh Wannūs – das dramatische Werk, in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon, 3. Auflage, Hans Ludwig Arnold (Hg.). Stuttgart, Verlag J.B. Metzler

    (2008) Kreuz, Eros und Gewalt. Zur Choreographie des Opfers in der arabischen Kunst. in: A.Kraß/ T. Frank (eds.): Tinte und Blut. Politik, Erotik und Poetik des Martyriums. Frankfurt/M., Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 195-218

    (2007) Wafa Idris – eine Selbstmordattentäterin zwischen Nationalheldin und Heiliger, in: S. Weigel (Hg.): Märtyrer-Portraits. Von Opfertod, Blutzeugen und heiligen Kriegern. Wilhelm Fink Verlag

    (2007) Sinnloser oder sinnvoller Tod? Zur Heroisierung des Opfers in nahöstlichen Kulturen, in: Stephan Conermann (Hg.): Islamwissenschaft als Historische Anthropologie. Münster, LIT Verlag, 291-314

    (2006) Death and the Power of the Word, in: Andreas Pflitsch, Barbara Winckler: Poetry’s Voices – Society’s Norms. Forms of Interaction between Middle Eastern Writers and Their Societies. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag, 49-60

    (2005) Der Tod als Tor zum Leben. Märtyrertum als moderner Mythos in der palästinensischen Dichtung, in: H. Medick/ A. Bähr (Hg.): Selbsttötung als kulturelle Praxis. Ansätze eines interkulturellen historischen Vergleichs. Köln, Wien, Weimar, Böhlau Verlag, 351-372

    (2004) The Martyred Poet on the Cross in Arabic Poetry: Sacrifice, Victimization, or the Other Side of Heroism?, in: F. Pannewick (Hg.): Martyrdom and Literature. Death and Meaningful Suffering in Europe and the Middle East from Antiquity to Modernity. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag (Literaturen im Kontext Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch 17), 105-124

    (2004) Tödliche Selbstopferung in der arabischen Literatur – eine Frage der Ehre?, in: M. Schuller/ I. Kappert (Hg.): Ein Denken, das zum Sterben führt. Selbsttötung – das Tabu und seine Brüche. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht (Verlagsbereich Medizinische Psychologie 5), 158-184

    (2004) Introduction, in: F. Pannewick (Ed.): Martyrdom and Literature. Death and Meaningful Suffering in Europe and the Middle East from Antiquity to Modernity. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag (Literaturen im Kontext Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch 17) 1-28

    (2004) Passion and Rebellion. Shī‘īte Visions of Redemptive Martyrdom, in: F. Pannewick (ed.): Martyrdom and Literature. Death and Meaningful Suffering in Europe and the Middle East from Antiquity to Modernity. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verlag (Literaturen im Kontext Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch 17), 47-62

    (2002) Art. Palästinensische Literatur, in: H. L. Arnold (Hg.): Kritisches Lexikon zur fremdsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur. München, (edition text und kritik), 35

    (2001) Raum und Zeit im Bürgerkrieg. Grenzüberschreitungen in arabischen Romanen über Beirut, in: C. Szyska/R. Haag-Higuchi (Hg.): Erzählter Raum in Literaturen der islamischen Welt/ Narrated Space in the Literature of the Islamic World. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 201-216

    (April 2001) Art. Ilyas Khoury, in: H. L. Arnold (Hg.): Kritisches Lexikon zur fremd­sprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur. München, (edition text und kritik), 23

    (Juni 2001) Art. Sa‘dallāh Wannūs, in: H. L. Arnold (Hg.): Kritisches Lexikon zur fremdsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur. München, (edition text und kritik), 19

    (2000) Inventive Syncretism in Postcolonial Theatre Performances, in: Klemm/Gründler (Hg.): Understanding Near Eastern Literatures. A Spectrum of Interdisciplinary Approaches. Wiesbaden, 105-114

    (1999) The Ḥakawātī in Contemporary Arabic Theatre: The Re-Emergence of an Old Pattern of Communication, in: A. Neuwirth (Hg): Myths, Historical Archetyps and Symbolic Figures in Arabic Literature. Beirut/ Stuttgart (Beiruter Texte und Studien 64), 337-348

    (1997) Al-Ḥakawātī fī l-masraḥ al-ʿarabī al-muʿāṣir: namağ qadīm yatağaddad, in: al-Ādāb. Nr. 9-10 (Beirut Sept.-Okt.), 45. Jg., 97-102

  • Committees and editorships

    2024 Appointment as member of the Scientific Commission of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat)

    2020-2022
    Executive Director of  CNMS

    Since 2020
    Member of the Executive Council and Principal Investigator in the research field “Aesthetics and Cultural Practice” of MECAM/Tunis – The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (BMBF)

    2018-2022
    Member of the Advisory Board of the Academy in Exile

    Since Oct 2012
    Member of the board and general assembly of the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin 

    Since Oct 2012
    Associate member of the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies, Free University of Berlin                  

    2009-2015
    Member of the academic advisory board of the Orientinstitut Beirut (Stiftung Deutscher Geisteswissenschaftlicher Institute im Ausland, DGIA). Deputy Chairwoman 2013-2015.

    2009 -2015
    Member of the academic advisory board of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin. Chair 2012-2015

    2007-2012
    Panel Member/Reviewer and committee activities in Panel SH4 Culture and Cultural   Diversity des European Research Council, ERC/Brussels 

    Since 2005
    Member of the multidisciplinary research program Europe in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe, Berlin, in the frame of Forum Transregionale Studien

    Since 2004
    Expert advisor for the 3rd edition of the Neue Kindler Literaturlexikon, section Arabic Literature (published 2009)

    Since 2003
    Co-editor of the series “Literatures in context. Arabic-Turkish-Persian”, Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden

    2002 – 2006
    Member of the advisory board of the project “Westöstlicher Diwan - Literarische Begegnungen” (Berliner Festspiele, Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin)

  • Conception and organization

    Aug 2016
    Cooperative conception and management of the summer academy  "Reconfiguring the (Non-) Political. Performing and Narrating Change and Continuity" in Tunis. Cooperation with the research network "Re-Konfigurationen" at the CNMS, as well as the Université de la Manouba, l'Institut de Recherches ur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC) and EUME, Berlin.

    Sept 2014
    cooperative conception and leadership of the international summer academy “Conflict and Mobility in the City! Urban Space, Youth and Social Transformations”, commissioned by the EUME, the Forum Transregionale Studien/Berlin, in cooperation with the EGE/Rabat and Centre Jacques Berques/Rabat

    June 2013
    conception and leadership of the international conference “Commitment and Dissent in Arabic Literature since the 1950s” at the CNMS, cooperation with EUME Berlin

    Sept 2012
    cooperative conception and leadership of the international summer academy “Aesthetics & Politics: Counter-Narratives, New Publics, and the Role of Dissent in the Arab World”, in Cairo, commissioned by EUME, the Forum Transregionale Studien/Berlin, held in cooperation with AUC and Cairo University

    Dec 2011
    cooperative conception and leadership of the international workshop “The Middle East from Below - Dynamics of Subversion” at the CNMS

    Dec 2008
    conception and leadership of the international symposium “Cultural Voices of a Fragmented Nation: War, Trauma, and Remembrance in Contemporary Iraq” at the CNMS, cooperation with ‘Europe in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe’ (EUME), Berlin (financed by the Thyssen Stiftung / CNMS); publication ensued in 2012 as “Conflicting Narratives”, Wiesbaden

    Sept 2005
    conception and leadership of the international summer academy “Travelling Traditions” (in cooperation with Dr. Samah Selim) commissioned by the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin; guest of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon

    2004-06
    member of the conception group for the research cluster “Wege des Wissens. Transregionale Studien” at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin

    2004
    conception and realization of the international symposium “ArabAmericas. Literatures without a Fixed Abode”, in cooperation with Prof. Ottmar Ette (Romance Studies, Potsdam) at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin (part 2 held 16-17.6.2005); publication 2006

    2004
    conception and leadership of the international summer academy “Literatures and Borders. Delimitations – Transgression”, commissioned by the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin, at the Swedish Institute Alexandria, Egypt

    2003
    cooperative conception and realization of the international conference “Poetry’s Voice – Society’s Norms. Forms of Interaction Between Writers and Their Societies” (Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin: Cultural Mobility in Near Eastern Literatures and Westöstlicher Diwan; Free University of Berlin: Interdisciplinary Centre “Bausteine zur Gesellschaftsgeschichte des Vorderen Orients”; Haus der Kulturen der Welt; publication 2006)

    2003
    conception and realization of the interdisciplinary conference “Wenn Liebe tötet. Beiträge zu einer literarischen Anthropologie” at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin (cooperation with Prof Renate Jacobi and Prof Thomas Bauer)

    2002
    conception and sole realization of the international, multidisciplinary conference “Martyrdom and/ in Modernity” at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin

    2001
    co-organization of the international symposium “Rezeptions­prozesse in Nahöstlichen Literaturen” at the FU Berlin

    2001
    organization and moderation of the panel “Interkulturalität und Intertextualität: Die Entstehung von Genres durch transkulturelle Interaktion” at the Deutscher Orientalistentag in Bamberg (publication 2003)

Hint: In case of inaccurate personal data, please inform the appropriate Personnel Data Agent.
1 The email addresses are only selectable in the intranet. To complete an email address, merge following string ".uni-marburg.de" or "uni-marburg.de" to the end of the email address.