Newsletter 11 - 5 December 2001

SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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SASNET News:

• Five applications for Planning and Networking Grants
15 November, 2001, was the closing date for applications to the second round of SASNET grants for planning and continued networking. Five applications were received; four concerning research projects, and one concerning an educational programme.
The allocation of grants will now be decided by a reference group, consisting of Prof Pamela Price (Department of History, Oslo), Dr Neil Webster (Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen), and Dr Malin Åkerblom (International Science Programme, Uppsala). The decisions will be presented on 24 January, 2002.

• Workshop about global networking
The SASNET workshop about global networking in South Asian studies took place in Lund on 27–28 August 2001. About 40 persons attended the workshop and gave a good start for SASNET’s global networking. Full report with all the papers read at the workshop.
Now is the complete discussion that followed on Dr Mats Benner´s and Dr Rita Afsar´s papers transcripted and available here on the Gateway. Read the very fruitful discussion.

• Open House seminars. SASNET has started a series of Open House seminars at its root node office in Lund. The first seminar was held by Prof Staffan Lindberg, SASNET director, on 9 November, 2001. Staffan, who had just returned from a tour to Africa, talked about how the war on terrorism in Afghanistan has been interpreted in Tanzania, and he also gave his assessment of the political implications for South Asia.
More information on this and other arrangements which SASNET has been engaged in the past year. The next Open House seminar will be held in the end of January, 2002.

• SASNET will arrange a symposium for Swedish doctoral students and post-docs in the autumn 2002. Prepararations are under way, with informal meetings being held with PhD candidates in Lund and Stockholm. More information will be given later.

Community News and conferences:

• The Nordic Centre in New Delhi was supposed to be inaugurated in November, 2001, but due to a delayal in the final clearance from the Indian authorities it is still not clear exactly when the centre will be inaugurated. More information through the director for Nordic Centre, Dr Stig Toft Madsen.

• The Swedish Research Council decided in the middle of November upon research grants for 2002–2004. Lists of the applications which were given grants in different disciplines.

• International Programme Office for Education and Training decided on 3 December, 2001, upon the Palme-Linnaeus grants for the year 2001/02. 27 Swedish colleges/universities sent in a total of 153 applications for different projects. Out of these, grants were given to 119 projects, sharing 8,2 Million SEK.
Applications for Palme-Linnaeus grants for the contract period 1 July, 2002 – 30 June, 2003, has to be delivered to the International Office, or equivalent authority, at the local Swedish university not later than 1 February, 2002. More information.

• The South Asia seminar series at Uppsala University continues on 10 January, when Kathinka Fröystad from Oslo university will talk on ”From Muslims to Dalits: Hindu Nationalism seen from below, 1992–1997”. Venue: Språkvetenskapligt Centrum, Villavägen 4, room 16/0054.

• The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, UNRISD, carries out research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development. Through its research, UNRISD stimulates dialogue and contributes to policy debates on key issues of social development within and outside the United Nations system. Right now papers from the conference on ”The Need to Rethink Development Economics”, held 7–8 September 2001 at Cape Town, South Africa, are available.

• A workshop on ”Paradigms of Conflict Resolution and Peace Process in South Asia” is organised by the International Relations Department, University of Karachi, on 22–23 December, 2001.

• 17th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies takes place at Heidelberg, Germany, on 9–14 September, 2002. The full list of panels can be seen on the conference home page, and abstracts of some papers are available.

• A PhD researcher training course with the theme ”Twilight Institutions and Local Politics in Developing Societies” is offered at Arresødal, outside Copenhagen, on 24–27 September, 2002. The course is organised by the Graduate School of International Development Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark. More information.

• The Global Conference on Genocide will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January, 13-14, 2002.

• The Committee on the Enhancement of South Asian Studies at Loyola University, Chicago, USA, announces an undergraduate two days conference on South Asian Studies from Oct. 26, 2002, at the University's Lake Shore Campus. Undergraduates, recent college graduates, and first year graduate students are invited to submit abstracts of about 250 words to the Committee for consideration. For further information contact Prof Vincent Mahler in the Dept of Political Science, Loyola University.

• The Danish Ph D Network on Development and International Relations invites applications from Danish and foreign Ph.D. candidates for participation in an intense four-day Ph D Researcher Training Course on ”The Third World in the Global Governance System”, on 24–27 February 2002. Venue: Store Restrup Herregaard, Nibe, Denmark.

• The Faculty Senate of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, organizes an international conference on ”Information Technology and the University in Asia” on 3–5 April, 2002.

• The Dept of Women and Gender Studies, at Makerere University, Uganda, organises the 8th International interdisciplinary congress on Women, with the theme”Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challenges”, on 23–26 July, 2002, in Kampala. More information.

New and updated items on SASNET web site

• SASNET offers a guide to important analyses of the War on terrorism in Afghanistan and its implications for South Asia, in Swedish newspapers and magazines (available on the Internet), as well as in international media. For articles in South Asian media on the issue, look at our separate links pages for newspapers and magazines.

• Guide to funding agencies. SASNET gives the addresses to where to apply for research grants and institutional support for research and education in studies on South Asia. More information.

Cultural events

• Riksutställningar´s exhibition ”God has 99 names” tours the country during three years. It is presently on show in Uppsala, at Storgården, Gamla Uppsala, between 1 December 2001 and 13 January 2002, after which it will be shown at Regionmuseet i Skåne, Kristianstad, from 27 January – 10 mars 2002. In ”God has 99 names” young people from different ethnic backgrounds give an account of the world's major religions not only as theoretical knowledge but presented to all the senses. More information on the exhibition.

 Best regards

     Staffan Lindberg           Lars Eklund

SASNET/ Swedish South Asian Studies Network

SASNET is a national network for research, education, and information about South Asia, based at Lund University. The aim is to encourage and promote an open and dynamic networking process, in which Swedish researchers co-operate with researchers in South Asia and globally.
The network is open to all sciences. Priority is given to co-operation between disciplines and across faculties, as well as institutions in the Nordic countries and in South Asia. The basic idea is that South Asian studies will be most fruitfully pursued in co-operation between researchers, working in different institutions with a solid base in their mother disciplines.
The network is financed by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and by Lund University.

Postal address: SASNET – Swedish South Asian Studies Network, International Office,
Lund University, P O Box 117, S-221 00 Lund
Visiting address: Gamla Kirurgen, Sandgatan 3, first floor, room no. 230
Phone: + 46 46 222 73 40
Fax: + 46 46 222 96 65
E-mail: sasnet@sasnet.lu.se
Web site: http://www.sasnet.lu.se
Our office is manned weekdays 9-17, and open to visitors.

Staff: Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator &
           Lars Eklund, webmaster/programme secretary