Overview dissertations 2003
Ingun Bruskeland Amundsen from the Oslo School of Architecture, AHO, Norway, defended her doctoral dissertation on ”Sacred Architecture and the Dzongs of Bhutan. Tradition and Transition in the Architectural History of the Himalayas” on 12 December 2003. Faculty opponents were Dr Anne Chayet, Institut d'Études Tibétaines, Instituts d'Extrême-Orient, Paris, France; and Prof. Attilio Petruccioli, Polythecnic of Bari, School of architecture, Como, Italy. More information on her research in an article from The Journal of Bhutan Studies in 2001.
Amirtalinkam Cellaiya (Amirthalingam Selliah), Dept of Theology; History of Religions, Uppsala University, defended his doctoral dissertation on ”Murukak katavul valipatu. A Study of the Worship of God Murukan in Malaiyakam on Ilam and in Tamilakam”, on Monday 8 December 2003. The dissertation focuses on the act of worship of Murukak katavul, as it is continuously practiced and developed as Tamil heritage in Sri Lanka. Faculty opponent was Professor S Pathmanathan from Peradeniya University, Sri Lanka. More information on the dissertation.
Simron Jit Singh, Division of Human Ecology, Department of European Ethnology, Lund University, defended his dissertation ”In the Sea of Influence: A World System Perspective of the Nicobar Islands” on Saturday 6 December 2003. Simron Jit Singh (photo to the left) originally coming from Indian Punjab has been connected to Lund University as a graduate student, but is otherwise working as a researcher and lecturer at Abteilung Soziale Ökologie, Institut für Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Fortbildung, University of Wien, Austria. Faculty opponent was Professor Joan Martinez-Alier, University of Barcelona, Spain, one of the World’s leading specialists within the field of Ecological Economy. More information.
Eva-Maria Hardtmann, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University defended her doctoral dissertation on ”'Our Fury is Burning' – Local Practice and Global Connections in the Dalit Movement”, on Friday 7 November 2003. The thesis focuses on the cultural discourses as well as the organizational aspects within the contemporary Dalit movement in India. Faculty opponent was Martin Fuchs, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. More information.
Wimal Pathmasiri from the Division of Pharmacognosy, Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, defended his Licentiate thesis on ”COX 2 Inhibitors of Natural origin: Dereplication, Isolation, and Structure Eludicidation”, on 3 November 2003. Pathmasiri, coming from Sri Lanka, has been doing research on Srilankan medicinal plants and herbal preparations. Read abstract of the thesis.
Monica Erwér, Dept of Peace and Development Research (PADRIGU), Göteborg University defended her dissertation on ”Transforming Politics; Gender, Power and Agency in Kerala, South India”, on Thursday 30 October 2003. Faculty opponent was Prof. Gita Sen from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India. The thesis focuses on the development and the emerging gender politics in terms of negotiations between the state and collective actors such as the feminist network and the left women's movement in South India, possibilities and constraints of empowerment. Read the abstract.
Martin Gansten, Dept of History of Religions, with emphasis on Indic Religions; Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, defended his doctoral dissertation on ”Patterns of Destiny: Hindu Nadi Astrology”, dealing with astrological divination in South India, on Tuesday 30 September 2003. Faculty opponent was Prof. Robert Zydenbos, Institut für Indologie und Iranistik, Department für Asienstudien, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany. Read the abstract.
Christer Norström, Dept of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, defended his doctoral dissertation on “They Call for Us. Strategies for securing autonomy among the Paliyans, hunter-gatherers of the Palni Hills, South India”, on Friday 19 September 2003. Faculty opponent was Professor Alan Barnard, School of Social and Political Studies (Social Anthropology), University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Read the abstract (as a pdf-file).
Rathnasiri Premathilake from the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, defended his doctoral thesis on ”Late Quaternary Palaeoecological Event Stratigraphy in the Horton Plains, Central Sri Lanka with contributions to the Recent Pollen Flora” at Stockholm University, on Wednesday 4 June 2003. Premathilaki has been involved in a sandwich programme with the Dept. for Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University; and with the Dept for Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University. Faculty opponent was Prof. Francoise Gasse, Université Aix-Marseille III, France. More information.
Kristina Lejonhud at the Dept of Human Geography, Karlstad University, defended her dissertation on ”Indian Villages in Transformation – A longitudinal study of three villages in Uttar Pradesh” on Friday 13 June 2003. The thesis dealing with the changing nature of Lifeworld and Farming System in Village India, based on a study of Chamaon Gram Sabha, Varanasi, has been written under the supervision of Prof. Gerhard Gustafsson, and Prof. Rana P B Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. The latter in 1977 published a book on the village community of Chamaon Gram Sabha, which has been taken as starting point by Kristina for her research, and the place for her field studies 1994–2001. More information.
Ekkehard Lorenz at the Indology section, Dept of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University, defended his BA level thesis in Classical Indology on ”Mahidasa Aitreya in the work of Madhva”, Tuesday 10 June 2003. The opponent was Associate Professor Erik af Edholm, Dept of Comparative Religion, Stockholm University.
Måns R. Broo, Dept. of Comparative Religion, Åbo Akademi, Finland defended his doctoral dissertation ”As Good as God: The Guru in Gaudiya Vaisnavism” on Friday 6 June 2003. The thesis deals with the guru institution of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, analyzing it in terms of the interplay of canon and charisma. Faculty opponent was Professor Knut Jacobsen, University of Bergen. More information on the thesis (in Swedish only).
Magdalena Inkinen from the Dept of Government, Uppsala University (photo to the right), defended her doctoral dissertation on ”Mobilising the Lower Castes: The Rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party in India”, on Thursday 22 May, 2003. Fakulty opponent was Prof Anirudh Krishna, Duke University, U.S. More information on the thesis.
Sanjeeva Witharana from the Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Refrigeration, Department of Energy Technology; at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm, defended his Licentiate thesis on ”Boiling of refrigerants on enhanced surfaces and boiling of nanofluids” in May 2003. Witharana has dedicated his thesis to his motherland Sri Lanka. More information, with link to the full thesis.
Marie Thynell from PADRIGU, Dept of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University, defended her dissertation on ”The Unmanageable Modernity. An Explorative Study of Motorized Mobility in Development” on 5 April 2003. The thesis is an explorative study of a neglected area in International Political Economy and Development Studies. The study includes a comparison of the historical evolvement of motorization in the Third World capitals of Brasília and Teheran; as well as a comparison of the handling of current urban transport problems in Rome and New Delhi, India. Read the abstract.
Malin Arvidson from the Dept of Sociology, Lund University, defended her dissertation on ”Demanding Values. Participation, Empowerment, and NGOs in Bangladesh”, on Friday 14 March 2003. Faculty opponent was Dr. David Lewis, London School of Economics, Centre for Civil Society. Read abstract.
Dan Banik at the Dept of Political Science, University of Oslo, defended his doctoral thesis on ”Democracy, drought and starvation in India: Testing (Amartya) Sen in theory and practice”, based on experiences from Kalahandi, Orissa, India, on Sunday 9 March 2003. Faculty opponents were Prof James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University, U.S.; and Prof Barbara Harriss-White, University Professor of Development Studies, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, U.K. Read abstract of the dissertation.
Cathrine Brun from the Dept of Geography, University of Trondheim, Norway, defended her doctoral thesis on ”Finding a place. Local integration and protracted displacement in Sri Lanka”, Friday 31 January 2003. The day before she held her trial lecture on ”Forced migrants, refugees or IDPs? Consequences of labelling on identity formation and entitlements in Sri Lanka”. More information on the dissertation.
