Latest SASNET News


Helarius Beck visited SASNET’s office

On Thursday 23 May 2013, Professor Helarius Beck, Dean at the School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India, visited SASNET ’s office at Lund University and met its deputy director Lars Eklund. Prof. Beck had come to Lund as a TISS representative in planning for the new Linnaeus Palme exchange programme between his school at TISS and the School of Social Work at Lund University (more information).
During a week-long stay at Lund University, Prof. Beck participated in a one-day seminar day focused on Internatinal studies and international assignments for Social Work students, but he also took part in teaching activities.
In his research, Helarius Beck focuses on the still prevailing practice of manual scavenging in India. In 2005, he published an article entitled ”Socioeconomic status of scavengers engaged in the practice of manual scavenging in Maharashtra” together with TISS researcher colleague Shaileshkumar Darokar. They identified the numbers of scavengers, their socio-economic status, and assess training needs and alternative avenues of employment. A 'manual scavenger' is a person engaged in manually removing human excreta. In 1993 legislation was passed in India to ban manual scavenging, but has not been widely implemented. Since allocation of labour on the basis of caste is one of the fundamental tenets of the Hindu caste system, Dalits have been assigned to carry out this which is deemed ritually polluting by other caste communities.


First meeting for the new SASNET board for the period 2013–2015

 New SASNET board at its first meeting on 14 May 2013, from left to right: Anders Fänge, Helle Rydström, Hawwa Lubna,
 Anna Lindberg, Fredrik Tufvesson (back row), Stefan Jonsson and Olle Qvarnström.                    Photo: Lars Eklund

After running for two and a half years without a board, SASNET had its first meeting with the new board on Tuesday 14 May 2013. The members of the board, except three representatives for students, were appointed by Eva Wiberg, Pro Vice Chancellor, Lund University, in a decision made on Thursday 7th February 2013. The board is appointed for a period of three years up till 31 December 2015.
All the members of the board participated in the premier meeting:
– The chairperson Dr. Anna Lindberg, SASNET Director.
– Three Lund University representatives: Professor Helle Rydström, Centre for Gender Studies (representing the Faculty of Social Sciences), Professor Olle Qvarnström, Department of History and Anthropology of Religion (representing the Faculty of Humanities and Theology), and Dr. Fredrik Tufvesson, Department of Electrical and Information Technology (representing the Faculty of Engineering).
– Two external representatives: Professor Stefan Jonsson, Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University (and former Counsellor of Science and Technology, Embassy of Sweden in India), and Dr. Anders Fänge, former Site Manager, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA).
– Student representative: Ms. Hawwa Lubna from the BSc Programme in Development Studies (BIDS), Lund University (also the interim chairperson of the South Asian Students Association at Lund University – SASA). According to the statutes, the SASNET board should have three students representatives, but for the period upto 30 June 2013, only one student representative has been appointed. These representatives are appointed by Lund University Social Science Students Union association, for a period of one academic year at a time.
The first board meeting was mainly devoted to information about SASNET’s current status and activities. The next meeting will be held in October 2013.
Full information about the SASNET board 2013-15.


Fruitful SASNET/NCI meeting on Nordic Studies in India

On Friday 17 May 2013, the Nordic Centre in India (NCI) university consortium and the Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET) jointly organized a fruitful meeting to discuss possible academic collaboration with The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in India, in connection with the university’s plan to launch a new Department of Nordic Studies. The meeting was held at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, and convened by the NCI coordinator Dr. Kristina Myrvold.
The invited participants included Monika Wirkkala from the Swedish Institute (SI); Clemens Cavallin from University of Gothenburg; Jyrki Kalliokoski from University of Helsinki, Anders Mortensen, Centre for Scandinavian Studies at Lund University; and Mattias Nowak from Centre for European Studies, Lund University. SASNET was represented by Anna Lindberg, Lars Eklund and Jonathan Stoltz. Representatives from the universities in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Uppsala and Oslo were also supposed to participate but could not come.
EFLU is a Central University with campuses in Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Malappuram that offer education and research in a wide range of foreign languages and related subjects. Since autumn 2012, NCI has arranged several meetings with representatives of EFLU to discuss their plans to launch a new Department of Nordic Studies that can provide teaching in Nordic languages and cultures. The meeting on May 17 is arranged to inform about EFLU’s plans for this pioneer project and to identify and receive input from universities and departments who could be interested in being partners with EFLU.
SASNET Assistant webmaster Jonathan Stoltz visited FLU on a visit to Hyderabad, along with Kristina Myrvold, in March 2013. Read his report.
 


SASNET/Lund University seminar on Indian Cultures and Diasporas

Gurinder Singh Mann, Amit Kumar Mishra and Gibb Scheffler.

An open seminar on ”Indian Cultures and Diasporas” will be held at Lund University on Monday 17 June 2013, 15.00–19.30. It is jointly organized by SASNET, the Nordic Centre in India (NCI), and Lund University’s Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR). Venue: CTR, Room 118, Allhelgona Kyrkogata 8, Lund. See the workshop programme.
Invited guest speakers are Professor Gurinder Singh Mann from the Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies at University of Californa, Santa Barbara, USA, who will speak about "The Sikh Panth: From Kartarpur to Anandpur (1500-1700)”; Dr. Amit Kumar Mishra from the Centre for the Study of Indian Diaspora at University of Hyderabad, India, who will give a lecture on ”Indians in Diaspora: A Social-Cultural Continuum?”; and Dr. Gibb Schreffler from Pomona College in Claremont, California, USA, who will speak about ”The Punjab Dhol (Drum) Tradition and its Modernization in Post-Indenpendence Indian Punjab”. The seminar will also include a screening of the documentary film “The Sikhs of Kabul: A Forgotten Community” directed by Mr. Bobby Singh Bansal in 2012. The film is about Afghan Sikhs who have been a part of the culture and heritage of Afghanistan since the seventeenth century and how they have been caught in political crossfire since the rise of the Taliban regime to power in 1992.
The seminar is arranged in connection with the conference ”Young Sikhs in a Global World: Negotiating Identity, Tradition and Authority” held in Lund 18–19 June 2013 at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University. Participation by invitation only. Full information about the conference.


Seventh European PhD workshop in South Asia Studies to be held in Amsterdam

The Seventh European PhD workshop in South Asia Studies will be hosted by University of Amsterdam and be held 26–27 September 2013. The conveners are Prof. Mario Rutten and Prof. Willem van Schendel. These European workshops are jointly co-organised by the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS); Heidelberg University, Germany; Ghent University, Belgium; University of Edinburgh, UK; Le Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (CEIAS), Paris, France; University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and SASNET/Lund University, Sweden. Each university nominates a couple of PhD candidates and a senior Professor. The workshop's format gives each PhD candidate the responsibility of introducing the paper of another participant and raising some preliminary questions. A senior scholar then acts as discussant and provides feedback on the paper, prompting further debate. This format broadens perspectives on research methods, concepts, and theory by helping students consider questions from a variety of disciplines.
From Lund University, PhD Candidates Maria Tonini, Centre for Gender Studies, and Srilata Sircar, Dept. of Cultural Geography, will attend the Amsterdam workshop. More information on the 2013 workshop will follow.
The 2012 European workshop in South Asia Studies was organised by SASNET/Lund University. It was held at Falsterbo Kursgård, Höllviken from 17 to 19 September 2012. Read a report from the 2012 workshop.


Indian Ambassador on hectic visit to Lund University

Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mrs. Banashri Bose Harrison, visited Lund and Lund University for the second time on Tuesday 7 May 2013. She came to Lund on an invitation from SASNET to attend an academic seminar on EU’s relations with emerging Asia with Dr. Krishnan Srinivasan at the University main building; and a Rabindranath Tagore Nobel Prize Centennary celebration organised by the Association for Indo-Swedish Cultural Exchange (AISCE) at Theatre Sagohuset in the evening.
At both occasions Mrs. Bose Harrison held inspired inaugural speeches.
More information about Krishnan Srinivan’s seminar.
More information about the Tagore evening.
While in Lund, the Ambassador also visited SASNET’s office at Scheelevägen, and the Asia Library – part of Lund University Library, located in the same house. Mrs. Bose Harrison wanted to see its Karl Reinhold Haellquist donation of South Asian literature, part of which consists of  a unique collection of Mahatma Gandhi literature. The librarian Anna Larsson showed the Ambassador around, and discussed possible additions of books for the Asia Library. More information about the Haellquist books donation and the Gandhi collection.
(On photo: Anna Larsson and SASNET’s Lars Eklund studies a volume of Gandhi’s Collected Works).


SASNET seminar on the Gujarat Elections and their nationwide implications

Professor Sebastian Morris from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, India, held a SASNET lecture entitled ”The Gujarat Elections – Implications for the Political and Economic Development in India” on Tuesday 21 May 2013, 15.15–17.00. The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Dept. of Sociology, Lund University.
Prof. Morris is currently Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair Professor at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS). In his presentation, he focused on the third time victory in the Gujarat state elections of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi. To most especially the middle-classes the elections were campaigned and won on the dual planks of “development” and “leadership in command”. Full information about the seminar.
During his visit to Lund, Prof. Morris also visited SASNET’s office and had a discussion with its deputy director Lars Eklund. (photo)


SASNET seminar with Krishnan Srinivasan on Europe and Emerging Asia

Dr. Krishnan Srinivasan, Research Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala during the academic year 2012/13, held a SASNET lecture at Lund University on Tuesday 7 May 2013. It was organised in collaboration with the Dept. of Political Science. Venue: Main university building, room 206, Universitetsplatsen, Lund. See the poster.
Former senior Indian diplomat and General Secretary of the Commonwealth Krishnan Srinivasan spoke about ”Europe's engagement with Emerging Asia; reflections on a new roadmap”. The learned presentation was based on a monograph on the future relationship between Europe and the emerging powers of Asia, that he is working on during his stay in Uppsala.
Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mrs. Banashri Bose Harrison participated in the seminar, and held an introductory speech.
More information about the seminar.


SASNET/Lund University seminar on Forest Access in Jharkhand

PhD candidate Siddharth Sareen from the Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Science, held a SASNET lecture at Lund University on Tuesday 21 May 2013, 13.15–15.00. The seminar was held in collaboration with the Dept. of Sociology. Siddharth spoke about ”Forest access for indigenes during political transformation in a resource-rich region”, focusing on the state of Jharkhand in eastern India. Venue: Conference room 3, Dept. of Sociology, Paradisgatan 5, Lund. See the poster.
Siddharth Sareen works within the Section for Global Development at his department at Univerwity of Copenhagen. He has a background in development studies and is part of the Erasmus Mundus joint doctoral programme Forest and Nature for Society.
Jharkhand came into being in 2000. The state presents a resource-rich democracy-building context with 40 percent of the country’s mineral wealth but high rates of poverty. Domestic and international mining companies have a large stake in securing land, while the state holds a monopoly over commercial timber even as it allows a significant tribal population access to minor forest produce. Progressive but hard-to-implement legislation safeguards the rights of indigenous, land-dependent peoples such as the Ho even as the regional political economy threatens them, creating what Anna Tsing elsewhere describes as a ‘resource frontier’. This seminar aimed to examine what factors determine Hos’ access to forests they have traditionally used as commons, in the post-1991 period of a liberalising-privatising-globalising national avatar that is coincident with decentralisation in natural resource governance. More information.


SASNET Concert with Mandolin and Vocal Recital by Sugato Bhaduri

SASNET organised a Mandolin & Vocal Recital concert programme with Sugato Bhaduri (photo) from Kolkata at Theatre Sagohuset in Lund on Tuesday 21 May 2013, at 19.00. The concert was co-organised by the Lund based Association for Indo-Swedish Cultural Exchange. See the poster.
Sugato Bhaduri is one of the most sought after Mandolinists in India today, and was initiated into the field of music at a very tender age.
Since 2005, Sugato Bhaduri has toured frequently both in India and Europe, and in 2006 he was recognized to be the best mandolin soloist of the world by the Eurofestival Zupfmusik held in Bamberg, Germany. He performs North Indian Classical Music on Mandolin, an instrument hitherto rarely known in Sweden for rendering the pure & ancient form of Indian classical music that is Dhrupad. Over a period of 17 years he studied music under the active supervision of renowned sarodiya Pt T. N. Majumder. He was also privileged to join workshops conducted by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the legendary figure in Indian music. The Lund University concert was Sugato Bhaduri’s first performance in Sweden. He was acompanied by the Indian  Tabla musician Sandip Bhattacharya from the Netherlands. More information about Sugato Bhaduri and his music.

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