Team > PD. Dr. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong
PD. Dr. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong
Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence
Function
- Head of the Gender and Diversity Office within the 'Africa Multiple' Cluster of Excellence at University of Bayreuth
Personal Information
PD. Dr. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong holds a PhD in African Theatre and Drama from the University of Bayreuth (2008, DAAD scholarship).
Currently, she serves as Head of the Gender and Diversity Office within the 'Africa Multiple' Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth. She was Project Director (2024–2026) of the international transdisciplinary project “Künstlerische Biographien: Transkulturell / Artistic Biographies: Transcultural (KÜBITRA)” based at the University of Music and Theatre (hmt) Rostock.
From 2012 to 2023, she worked as Assistant Professor of African Literatures and Cultures with a focus on African Drama, Theatre and Performance at Humboldt University Berlin. She is currently a Privatdozent at Humboldt University, where she was awarded the Venia Legendi in African Studies and Gender Studies in 2025.
She was a Cluster Fellow (February–July 2025) at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence and previously contributed to projects such as Colonial Letters and Contact of Knowledges and the working group Shakespeare and Africa: Literary Entanglements across Space and Time.
She has taught in Cameroon and Germany and has published widely in African literary and cultural studies. Based on her work in theatre and performance, she was nominated three times for the teaching excellence award at Humboldt University and received the First Faculty Prize in 2013.
She is currently Vice President of the African Theatre Association (AfTA).
Publications
Monographs / Edited Books
| 2026 |
Künstlerische Biographien-Transkulturell: Interdisziplinäres Autobiographisches Arbeiten in der Kunst. Uckerland: Schibri-Verlag (co-edited). |
| 2025 |
African Shakespeare: Subversions, Appropriations, Negotiations. London: Routledge (co-edited). |
| 2022 |
Crossings and Comparisons in African Literary and Cultural Studies. Trier: WVT Verlag (co-edited). |
| 2021 |
Old Age in African Literary and Cultural Contexts. Cambridge Scholars Publishing (editor). |
| 2018 |
Alter und Geschlecht: Soziale Verhältnisse und Kulturelle Repräsentationen (co-edited). |
| 2011 |
A Semiological Interpretation of the Plays of Gilbert Doho, Bole Butake and Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh. Bayreuth African Studies Series. |
Articles in Edited Books and Journals (Selection)
| 2025 |
“Ways of Retelling Shakespeare’s The Tempest across Time and Space”. |
| 2024 |
“Tracking ‘Rasha’s Gaze’ to Spaces of (Un)Belonging: Black Performance in 21st-century Berlin”. |
| 2021 |
“Theatre and Representation in Berlin: A Critical Understanding of Gender from an Intercultural Perspective”. |
| 2020 |
“From the Village Square to the Theatre Hall: Reflecting on People’s Theatre in a Postcolonial Context”. |
| 2015 |
“Postcolonial Feminine Emancipation in Bole Butake’s Plays”. |
Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence
Research Interest
Regional:
- Africa (with focus on Cameroon and transnational African contexts)
- Europe–Africa cultural and academic exchange (Germany and beyond)
Thematic:
- Postcolonial Literature and Critical Theory
- Gender Studies and African Feminisms
- African Theatre, Drama and Performance
- Theatre for Development and People’s Theatre
- Ageing and representations of old age in African literatures and performance
- Intercultural and transcultural artistic practices
Selected Papers:
- “Storytelling as a Tool of Cultural Exchange – KÜBITRA”, contribution to Künstlerische Biographien – Transkulturell, 2026.
- “Ritual and Performance: The Worship of Yemanjá on the Lake Pampulha in Belo Horizonte”, published in Theaterpädagogik Korrespondenz, Special Issue “Africa Perspectives on Theatre and Performance Traditions”, 2025.
- “Ways of Retelling Shakespeare’s The Tempest across Time and Space”, in African Shakespeare: Subversions, Appropriations, Negotiations, Routledge, 2025.
- “Tracking ‘Rasha’s Gaze’ to Spaces of (Un)Belonging: Black Performance in 21st-century Berlin”, in The Routledge Handbook of African Theatre and Performance, 2024.
- “Theatre and Representation in Berlin: A Critical Understanding of Gender from an Intercultural Perspective”, African Performance Review, 2021.
Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence
PD. Dr. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong
Head of the Gender and Diversity Office, Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth
Office: University of Bayreuth, FZA, Room 1.30, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth
Phone: +49 921 55-6923
E-mail: pepetual.mforbe@uni-bayreuth.de