Draft:Dorothee Kimmich



Dorothee Kimmich (*1961 in Stuttgart) is a German studies and literature scholar.

Biography
Dorothee Kimmich studied German studies, history and philosophy at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen and at the Sorbonne. Her doctorate at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg was awarded the Hermann Paul Prize. She then completed her habilitation at Justus Liebig University Giessen with a thesis about construction of reality in the works of Heinrich Heine, Georg Büchner, Karl Immermann, Stendhal und Gustave Flaubert. She has been Professor of Modern German Literature at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen since 2002.

Research
Dorothee Kimmich is known for her research regarding ›similarity‹. Postcolonialism of the past decades have critically examined the concept of identity, focusing on the notion of difference, which remains tied to colonial thinking. Although emphasizing alterity and hybridity shifts perspectives, it retains the leading oppositions. The concept of ›similarity‹ offers an alternative. The aim is to evaluate the theoretical scope of ›similarity‹ both historically and systematically. ›Similarity‹ is not just a heuristic concept but also serves as an argument and behavioral option in cultural practices. This concept was previously discredited for its association with assimilation and enforced cultural, gender, or religious conformity. It was often relegated to primitive or pre-modern cultures, contrasting with the rational modern era that values precise definitions. However, cultural phenomena, characterized by fluid transitions and overlapping boundaries, resist sharp definitions. The epistemological strength of ›similarity‹ lies in understanding how social actors navigate vague, dynamic, and imprecise relationships.

Key events include the 2012 international conference ›After Postcolonialism: Similarities in an Entangled World‹. Contributions were published in the 2015 anthology ›Similarity: A Cultural Theoretical Paradigm‹, translated into English in 2018.

Furthermore Kimmich heads the Tübingen Poetics Lectureship, is a member of the Würth-Preis für Europäische Literatur jury. She also has been co-coordinator of the CIVIS Hub ›Society, Culture, Heritage‹ since 2021.

Publications
Anil Bhatti/Dorothee Kimmich (eds.): Similaritiy – A Paradigm for Cultural Theory. Neu Delhi/New York: Tulika/Columbia University Press 2018. ISBN: 9789382381969