News

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. 

The Kutiyattam dance troupe from the Natana Kairali Research and Performing Centre for Traditional Arts in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur District, Kerala, India, again visits Sweden in May 2012. This time the Natana Kairali dance troupe will give two public performances at Teater Sagohuset in Lund, on Friday 25 May and Sunday 27 May, at 19.00. This is the same dance troup that visited Sweden in 2006 and also 2005, when they gave four performances based on the ancient Sanskrit drama Sakuntala at the Wooden Theatre of Järvsö in Hälsingland.
Natanakairali has been reaching out to the world of theatre and dance all over India and abroad for over three decades. Based on careful research and respect for all hereditary exponents, a vast store of classical and ritual arts is increasingly being appreciated by discerning audiences, fellow artistes and scholars alike. The foremost goal remains to preserve their authenticity and dignity at all times while exploring new horizons. 
More information on Natana Kairali.

The South Asia Research and Information Institute (SARII) in Dallas, Texas, USA, organizes a one-day conference on ”Cities, Courts, and Saints: Muslim Cultures of South Asia” on Saturday 22 September 2012, 09.00–17.00. The conference is co-organised by the The Asian Studies Program at Southern Methodist University, also in Dallas. Venue for the  conference: McCord Auditorium, Dallas Hall, Southern Methodist University. his conference brings together the leading historians of South Asia and specialists of Indo-Muslim cultures, and presents new research on the way Islam spread across and became part of the Indian subcontinent. Since the arrival of Islam in South Asia, Muslim communities thrived in cities, giving them a unique shape with new forms of courtly and spiritual life. A key aspect of Indo-Muslim culture was, and remains, the popularity of Sufi saints and their shrines. The papers presented by for example Richard M Eaton and Barbara Metcalfe focus on the entire range of Indo-Muslim history, from the medieval era to modern times, to shed new light on forms of social etiquette, literature, music, and architecture. More information.

The Centre for Asian Studies at University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, organises the Ananda Coomaraswamy Memorial Conference on Asian Art and Culture on 8–10 September 2012. The conference coincides with the 135th birth anniversary and 65th death anniversary of Ananda Coomaraswamy, renowned Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art (particularly art history and symbolism). He was an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West.
Deadline for submitting abstracts is 15 June 2012. In addition to the conference proceedings, the organisers plan to launch a commemoration volume on Ananda Coomaraswamy. Particiants interested in having their papers published in this volume, should announce this by 15 July 2012. Full information about the conference.

Dr. Sirajul Islam from Örebro University School of Business has been conferred the ‘Börje Langefors second best doctoral dissertation award’ (or Börje Langeforspriset in Swedish) from the Swedish Academy of Information Systems for his 2011 doctoral dissertation entitled ”Creating opportunity by connecting the unconnected: mobile phone based agriculture market information service for farmers in Bangladesh”. The thesis focuses primarily on mobile phones and how they can be used as part of an Agriculture Market Information Service (AMIS) in order to provide crucial information to farmers in Bangladesh.
The award was conferred on May 9, 2012 in a befitting manner during the annual conference of the Academy hosted by Linköping University. Börje Langefors Award is a prestigious academic honour awarded each year by SISA for the best doctoral dissertation in Sweden in the study areas Informatics, Information systems, Data and Information Science, or equivalent. The prize aims to reward as well as encourage development of high standard research in Sweden, and to demonstrate exemplary research in informatics.  More information.

Thomas Blom Hansen and Faisal Devji.

The 4th Annual Copenhagen South Asia Workshop (CSAW) will be held at the University of Copenhagen on Monday 17 September 2012, 09.30–17.30. The theme for the 2012 CSAW workshop will be ”Worlds of South Asia”. Papers are now invited. The aim is to showcase the wide variety of worlds – social, political, cultural, financial, developmental, historical, mythical, regional and/or global assemblages – that make the idea of South Asia. The workshop welcomes ongoing scholarly projects on any South Asian locality – both within the region as well as in transnational sites – and themes pertaining to the region’s history, culture, society and politics.
The workshop will have two speakers Thomas Blom Hansen, Stanford University and Faisal Devji, University of Oxford who will give keynote lectures on their most recent works. The workshop is jointly organised by the Centre of Global South Asian Studies, the Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, and the Asian Dynamics Initiative, University of Copenhagen. The workshop does not offer any travel grants. Deadline for paper proposals is 5 June 2012.
For more information contact Emilijia Zabliute.  

Anne Stenersen at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Explaining the Relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban, 1996-2001” on Friday 11 May 2012. The first opponent was Antonio Giustozzi (London School of Economics) and the second opponent Magnus Ranstorp (Försvarshögskolan, Stockholm). Venue: Arne Næss Auditorium, George Morgenstiernes hus, University of Oslo, Blindern.
Ms. Stenersen has a B.A. in Cultural and Social Sciences from the University of Bergen, and an M.Phil in Asian and African Studies from the University of Oslo, but is now connected to FFI, the prime institution responsible for defence-related research in Norway, and its Terrorism Research Group. With an academic background in Middle Eastern studies, Arabic and Russian, she has conducted research on militant Islamism, with a focus on CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) terrorism, al-Qaeda’s use of the Internet, and the Taliban insurgency. Among her recent publications could be mentioned ”Are the Afghan Taliban Involved in International Terrorism?” (September 2009); and ”The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: organization, leadership and worldview” (2010).

Nils Finn Munch-Petersen, Senior expert at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen, Denmark, holds an open lunch lecture at NIAS on Wednesday 16 May 2012, 13.00 – 14.00. He will speak about ”Maldives – the 7th February coup”, on the coup that took place earlier this year in the Maldives replacing a democratically elected government by groups loyal to the former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled the Islands for 30 years. The coup was planned in detail during December 2011 and carried out by the police and judiciary. Venue: NIAS, Leifsgade 33, 3rd floor, Copenhagen.

While the Maldives have been a 100% Muslim country since the 1100’eds, the strange rationale for the coup was defending Islam: and, even stranger, the new and illegal government was almost immediately recognized by both India and the US. As an Islamic manifestation, on the day of the coup, all pre-Islamic artifacts at the Maldives National Museum were destroyed. During the short period of democratic rule the Maldives received world attention and generous aid due to a well marketed sea-rise due to global warming, as well as international recognition for the government’s efforts for environmental protection. However while no sea rise has been recorded for the archipelago, the Maldives is also the only South Asian country without even a single nature protected area. More information about the seminar.

The Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) in Stockholm-Nacka invites to a Asia Forum with Professor P. Sahadevan, Professor of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, on Wednesday 16 May 2012, 10.00 – 11:30. Prof. Sahadevan, who is also Editor-in-Chief of International Studies – a quarterly journal published by SAGE Publications, will speak about ”Challenges to Peace and Reconciliation in Post-Civil War Sri Lanka”. 
The end of the 26-year long ethnic war in Sri Lanka connotes the dawn of a new political life and qualitatively different challenges facing both the state and nation. 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? The presentation will identify the emerging trends and challenges to peace and reconciliation in the island. Venue: ISDP, Västra Finnbodavägen 2, Nacka. More information.