Activities in Lund

The Nepalese researcher Dr. Anita Ghimire from Kathmandu University visited and gave lectures at Stockholm University, Copenhagen University, Aarhus University in Copenhagen, and Lund University from May 6 to May 19, 2012 on a trip arranged by SASNET. 
SASNET director Anna Lindberg established contact with her when she was in Katmandu, Nepal, in November 2011 studying Nepalese students who go to India for higher education as part of a project entitled “Student Migration within Asia”, for which six researchers from Lund University and Gothenburg University have received a grant from the Swedish Research Council in 2011.
At Lund University, Dr. Ghimire held a well-attended open brown bag lunch seminar entitled ”Migration: The case of Nepal”. The seminar was jointly organised by SASNET and the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE), Lund university. Her presentation focused on the fact that while Nepal is largely understood as a labor sending country to countries of East Asia, Gulf and  Malaysia, it has significant number of other types of out migrants and also hosts different kinds of migrants from other countries. She discussed the trend and the present status of these different kinds of international migrants related to Nepal. The objective was to shed light on different forms of migration related to Nepal and present the real position of Nepal in the migration hub. 
More information about Dr. Ghimire and her Scandinavian tour.

Professor P. Sahadevan, Professor of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, lecture about ”Challenges to Peace and Reconciliation in Post-Civil War Sri Lanka” at Lund University on Wednesday 23 May 2012, 15.15–17.00. The seminar is jointly organised by SASNET and the Pufendorf Institute at Lund University. Venue: Pufendorf Institute, Sölvegatan 2, Lund.
Prof. Sahadevan is also Editor-in-Chief of International Studies – a quarterly journal published by SAGE Publications. In his presentation he will discuss the dawn of a new political life and qualitatively different challenges facing both the state and nation, that connotes the end of the 26-year long ethnic war in Sri Lanka. The country has entered a 'post-war situation' marked by absence of manifest violence, armed resistance movements and open use of military coercion as a state policy. However, post-war Sri Lanka is yet to become a post-conflict society. This underlines the need for a permanent political solution aimed at redressing the legitimate grievances of the Sri Lankan Tamil community. Yet, a political solution is far from the reality. Where is Sri Lanka heading towards? What are the post-war realities? Does the international community have a role to play in the conflict? Prof. Sahadevan tries to identify the emerging trends and challenges to peace and reconciliation in the island. 
See the conference poster.

A large crowd of people joined the Indian cultural programme/Mela that was held at Lunds konsthall on Saturday 14th April 2012. The programme was jointly organized by Konsthallen, SASNET, Lunds kommun/Kulturskolan and ABF, and was held in connection with an Indian art exhibition at Lunds konsthall, an exhibition entitled Social Fabric. The exhibition, to a large extent focusing on textile production in India, includes works by prominent Indian artists such as Archana Hande, Sudhir Patwardan, and Raqs Media Collective.
Indian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ashok Sajjanhar participated in the 14th April event that coincided with the Indian and Bengali New Year, Baisakh. The mela programme included joyful Bollywood dance performances, and the newly launched Indian Choir of Lund, led by Bubu Munshi Eklund and Thomas Wiehe, had its premiere performance.
On invitation from SASNET, Senior Lecturer Tania Alyhr from Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, finally gave an appreciated lecture on ”Textile Life in Western India”, focusing on the mass of textile expressions and crafts, the multitude of uses of textiles, and the beauty and the variety of Indian clothing and the highly skilled, thorough and highly dedicated craftspeople who perform their work in a meticulous way.
More information about the 14th April Indian Mela in Lund.

Ramnath Narayanswamy, Professor in the Economics and Social Sciences Area at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (IIMB), held a SASNET lecture about ”Understanding India. A Country in Transition” on Wednesday 11 April 2012, 10.15–12.00. The seminar was co-organised by the Dept. of Economic History, Lund University. Venue: Lund university School of Economics and Management, Room EC3:207, Tycho Brahes väg 1, Lund.
See the poster for the seminar.

In his presentation, Prof. Narayanswamy focused primarily on understanding the Indian economy, society and polity as a bumpy transition process from an economy dominated by state controls to an economy  dominated by competition. Specifically, he focused attention on an issue that is likely occupy attention of policy makers, namely, a program of affirmative action in the private sector. The author along with two other colleagues has completed a piece of research on this subject and the paper is a summary of its results.
Since 2009, Ramnath Narayanswamy is spending extended periods in Sweden as a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law (SBEL), University of Gothenburg. His areas of research interest include Business and Society, Spirituality and Self Development, Entrepreneurship in the Creative Sector and Creativity and Innovation. More information about his research work in Gothenburg.