Overview dissertations 2002

Per Ståhlberg from the Dept of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, defended his dissertation on ”Lucknow Daily: How a Hindi Newspaper Constructs Society” on Friday 20 December 2002. Faculty opponent was Dr Thomas Blom Hansen, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. More information.

Ram Gupta, Dept of Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Norway (and webmaster of Nofsa-Net), in November 2002 presented his hovedfag thesis (M.Phil. degree), on ”A shift in Dharma – changes in conceptualisations of faith among second-generation Hindus in Oslo”. More information, with a possibility to download the complete thesis.

Elisabeth Eide from the Institute for Media and Communication, Oslo University, defended her dissertation on ”’Down there’ and ’up here’. ’Europe's Others’ in Norwegian feature stories”, on Saturday 23 November 2002. Faculty opponents were Karen Ross, Coventry University, U.K., and Torsten Thurén, Stockholm University. Read abstract of dissertation.

Ellen Kristvik from the Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, defended her doctoral thesis on ”Nepali Sex Workers: Narratives of Violence and Agency” on Friday 8 November, 2002. Faculty opponents are Dr. Sophie Day, Goldsmiths University, London, and Dr. Tone Bleie, Christian Michelsens institutt, Bergen. Venue: Ragnar Frisch‚ auditorium (Ullevål kino). More information.

Mohammed Nurul Alam, at the Dept of Business Administration, Lund University (photo to the left), defended his doctoral thesis on ”Financing Small and Cottage Industries in Bangladesh by Islamic Banks: An Institutional Network Approach”, on Thursday 24 October 2002, at the School of Economics & Management. Faculty opponent was Professor Amjad Hadjikhani, Dept of Business Administration, Uppsala University. Read the abstract.

Anna Godhe, Marine Botany, Department of Marine Ecology, Göteborg University, defended her doctoral dissertation on ”Benthic and pelagic dinoflagellate stages: environmental settings, cyst viability, and molecular identification” on Saturday 18 October 2002. The thesis deals with marine microalgae that produce toxins which can accumulate in shell- fish and fish and hence pose a threat to human health, on the south-western coast of India. Faculty opponent was Marianne Ellegaard, Associate Professor, Dept. of Botany, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Read the abstract (as a pdf-file).

Olavi Hemmilä from the Dept of Comparative Literature, Högskolan Dalarna, defended his PhD thesis on ”A Yogi Comes to Town: Indian religious thinking as reflected in Swedish fiction with special focus on the works of Dan Andersson”, on 14 september, 2002, at the Dept of General and Comparative Literature, Stockholm University (where the dissertation has been made).

Ingrid Nyborg from Noragric, Centre for International Environment and Development Studies, Agricultural University of Norway, defended her doctoral thesis ”Yours Today, Mine Tomorrow? A Study of Women and Men’s Negotiations over Resources in Baltistan, Pakistan”, on 28 August, 2002, at Noragric in Ås. More details with abstract.

Anne Waldrop, at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, defended her doctoral thesis on ”A Room with One’s Own. Educated Elite People in New Delhi and Relations of Class” on Friday 21 June, 2002. Faculty opponents were Prof. Patricia Jeffery, University of Edinburgh, and Prof. Bruce Kapferer, University of Bergen. The thesis concerns the educated elite in New Delhi, with particular reference to the way they sustain their privileged class position.

Clemens Cavallin, at the Dept of Religious Studies, Göteborg University, defended his dissertation on ”The Efficacy of Sacrifice. Correspondences in the Rigvedic Brahmanas” on Friday 31 May 2002. Faculty opponent was Erik Reenberg Sand, Copenhagen University. Read the abstract (as a pdf-file). The thesis is based on an examination of linguistic characteristics, especially the nominal sentence, and some features of the system of correspondences are analysed. Mr Cavallin was originally trained at the former Dept. of Comparative Philology with Sanskrit.

Mikaela Ståhl Högberg, at the Dept of Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, defended her Licenciat thesis on ”Improved Feeding Systems Leading to Higher Milk Yield for Indian Dairy Buffaloes”, on Friday 31 May, 2002, at SLU, Ultuna. More information.

Masud Hossain from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, defended his doctoral dissertation on ”Regional Conflict Transformation: A Reinterpretation of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC)”, on 25 May, 2002.

Kimmo Ketola, Department of Comparative Religion, University of Helsinki, defended his doctoral dissertation titled ”An Indian Guru and His Western Disciples Representation and Communication of Charisma in the Hare Krishna Movement” on 11 May 2002. The thesis focuses on the charisma of Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a branch of Vaishnavism that has spread very rapidly throughout the Western world. The aim of the study was to describe and analyse the nature of the charismatic representations held by the disciples in such a way that insight into the processes of their acquisition and transmission can be gained. Read the full thesis (as a pdf-file)

Jürgen Offermanns, Dept of History of Religions, with emphasis on Indic Religions; Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, defended his doctoral dissertation on ”Der lange Weg des Zen-Buddhismus nach Deutschland: vom 16. Jahrhundert bis Rudolf Otto”, on 10 May 2002 dealing with the European reception of Buddhism. Read abstract.

Tek Nath Dhakal, Dept. of Management Studies, Tampere University, Finland, defended his doctoral dissertation on ”The Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Improvement of Livelihood in Nepal”, on 3 May 2002. Read abstract with link to the full-text dissertation. Dr. Dhakal is now back in Nepal, at the Dept. of Public Administration, Tribhuvan University.

Kristin Hansen at the Dept of Social Anthropology, Oslo University, defended her doctoral thesis on ”Thoughts, Feelings and the Significance of Social Ties as Invoked by a Family of Vaishnava Mendicant Renouncers in Bengal”, on 3 May, 2002. Faculty opponents were Prof. Ann Grodzins Gold, from Syracuse University, New York; and Prof. Harald Thambs-Lyche, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France. More information.

Therése Hindman Persson, at the Dept for Economics, Lund University, defended her doctoral thesis on ”Economic Analyses of Drinking Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries”, primarily based on research in Bangladesh, on 13 April 2002. Faculty opponent was Dr. Andrew McKay, University of Nottingham, UK. More information.