Newsletter 135 – 3 May 2012

Dr. Biswajit Mohapatra from the Dept. of Political Science at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong, India. invites for contributions for an edited volume on ”Exploring India China Relations: Historical Constructions and Future Possibilities”. The submissions should address the problem of the contentious dispute over borders and related geopolitical competition for power, influence, resources, and above all markets between China and India. The edited volume aims further at looking at the evolution of the relations between the two countries after 1950s, and analysing an emerging security scenario in which the adversarial nature of the Sino- Indian rela­tionship are examined, as well as strategic grounds so as to help these two regional powers to conduct smooth negotiations to settle their differences and mistrust are defined. Deadline for sending a 500-word abstract is 30 April 2012. Full chapters are due by 12 June 2012. Full information.

A new comparative study made by the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) in India has shown that Chinese research institutions are three times better than their Indian counterparts in terms of research performance. The major problem in front of Indian research institutions seems to be that they put too much of their resources on activities other than research, at least this is the opinion of Assistant Professor N. Raghuram from the institute. Read more about the results of this study at Deccan Herald.
Another report, made by TeamLease Services which is an Indian recruitment company have come to the conclusion that it is relatively few who decide to continue studying at higher educational level, and the educational sector is not flexible enough. There seems to also be a problem with matching the competences that students receive from universities and the needs of the labour market. Read more about this study at Business Standard.

The University of Würzburg, Germany organises a Summer School on ”Language and Culture of Karnataka (South India)” to take place 17 – 28 September 2012. The course will provide an introduction to the Kannada language, which is a classical Indian the language of the state of Karnataka spoken by more than 60 million people today. Introduction to spoken Kannada, as well as reading, writing and grammar skills will be given. The language course will be combined with an introduction to the history and culture of the Kannada–speaking areas of the Indian subcontinent. The state´s capital, Bangalore, a globalized IT-Boomtown is also called the “Silicon Valley of India”, whereas the Unesco World Heritage site Hampi gives a great impression of the capital of the late medieval Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara (“City of Victory”), whose kings ruled over vast parts of South India for around 300 years. Cultural and religious traditions include the Islamic culture of North Karnataka, Jainism and Hinduism. The course is free of cost, but study literature and materials are to be covered by the students. Accommodation can be arranged upon request. Deadline for registration is 30 June 2012.
Full information.

The Forum for Asian Studies at Stockholm University organises a two-day workshop on ”The civil society-security nexus, facing the challenges of international terrorism and domestic resistance” on 3 – 4 May 2012 in Stockholm. Scholars from  India, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines along with researchers from Europe will gather to discuss various aspects of international terrorism and domestic resistance. Professor Sanjib Baruah, a political science scholar from Bard College, USA speaks about ”Enclosing the Water Commons: Hydropower and the Specter of Maoism in Northeast India”. Read here his and the other participants' abstracts. 
Read the full programme.

The Forum for South Asia Studies at Uppsala University invites to a public lecture with Professor Gunnel Cederlöf, Department of History, Uppsala University, on Monday 7 May 2012, 13.15–15.00. The seminar is entitled ”Climate, Polities and the Making of a Citizen: Founding an Empire on India’s Northeastern Frontiers”. Venue: Main University Building (universitetshuset), Room 8, Biskopsgatan 3, Uppsala.
In public debates for most of the last century, North East India remained a region at the far end of the state, cut off from the ‘mainland’ and the larger markets, and haunted by violence. It has carried legacies of colonial governance into the present of government being unable to subdue and domesticate people and landscape within the larger polity. This secluded position of the region has a comparatively short history. The interest in mineral wealth of the hills, and of connecting Bengal (and India) with the large markets in China was a major driving force behind the British East India Company’s advance eastwards. Commercial prosperity and private returns pushed forward Company initiatives to establish de facto control of the territories argued to be included in the diwani grant of 1765 providing extensive revenue rights over large territories. The British Company sought to reopen, not close the commercial overland routes to the east. This talk focuses on conflicts involved in establishing colonial governance and will elaborate on three themes and their interrelatedness.

Professor Patrick Olivelle, University of Texas at Austin, holds a guest lecture at University of Oslo on Thursday 10 May 2012, 13.15–15.00. She will talk about ”King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: The Origin of Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra”, based on his new insights on the Arthaśāstra gained in connection of his new translation of this important early Indian text. The seminar is organised by the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS). Venue: Room 454, P A Munchs hus, Blindern, Oslo.
Professor Olivelle's visit to Oslo University takes place in the context of IKOS' cooperation with the College of Liberal Arts at University of Texas at Austin. He holds the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, and works in ancient to medieval Indian cultural history, focusing especially on religious history. He has translated many important ancient Indian texts, including the Upanishads, ancient codes of law, and books of folktale, and he is especially interested in the connections between social, political, economic and religious dimensions of Indian history. More information.

Anirudh Krishna, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University, USA, holds an open Forum Lecture at Uppsala University on Tuesday 15 May 2012, 10.15–12.00. He will speak about ”Stucks in slums (The design of a third-world city?): Investigating 14 settlements of Bangalore, India”. Venue:  Department of Peace and Conflict Research (PCR), Hall 2, Gamla torget 3, 1st floor, Uppsala.
Prof. Krishna’s research investigates how poor communities and individuals in developing countries cope with the structural and personal constraints that result in poverty and powerlessness. His presentation consists of investigations in 14 officially-recognized slum communities in Bangalore, including detailed interviews with 1,481 households, show that rather than being way-stations that lead to better lives slums have become final destinations for many. A vast majority has lived in slums for more than three generations. There is a great deal of occupational and residential continuity. Economic status has improved somewhat with the passage of generations. Not one young slum man or woman is a medical student, and no more than two attend engineering colleges. Low upward mobility prospects, high vulnerability, and weak institutional linkages combine to keep slum residents stuck in place. More information.

Jyotirmaya Sharma, Professor of Political Science, University of Hyderabad, India, holds a lecture in Uppsala on Tuesday 15 May 2012, at 11.00. Prof. Sharma, who is a Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala during the Spring semester 2012, will talk about ”Creating a Religion: Some Thoughts on Hindu Identity”. Venue: Linneanum, Thunbergsvägen 2, Uppsala.
Founded in 1985 SCAS was the first institute of its kind in Northern Europe. It is a national scientific institution, chartered by the Government of Sweden as an institute for advanced study mainly in the social and human sciences. A core component of an institute for advanced study is a highly selective programme for visiting fellows, and over the years, several researchers from South Asia have been selected for fellowships at SCAS.
Prof. Sharma’s recent publications include, ”Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism” (Penguin/Viking, 2003) and ”Terrifying Vision: M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS and India” (Penguin/Viking, 2007). He is currently working on the thought of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Tagore and Gandhi, while simultaneously working on a book exploring the life and ideas of Gandhi. An edited volume titled ”Grounding Morality: Freedom, Knowledge and the Plurality of Cultures” (co-edited with A. Raghuramaraju) was published by Routledge in 2010.
More information about the SCAS lectures during the spring 2012.

The Finnish Theatre Academy Helsinki (Teak), and the Asian Art and Performance Consortium (AAPC) of the Academy of Fine Arts (Kuva) organise an international symposium on ”Shifting Dialogues: The Politics of Site, Locality & Context in Asian Performance and Visual Arts” to be held in Helsinki on 18-19 May, 2012. The event is part of a research project that focuses on Asian Performance and Fine Arts (read more about the project).
Some of the issues that the symposium will examine are: – the concepts of Site, Locality, Context; – Buying & Selling the Tradition; – Vanguard culture: Are there new avant-gardes or vanguards responding to new economic conditions? – What are the aesthetics corresponding to the new equations of economic and political power?, and more.
Full information.

The Heritage Seminar at the University of Gothenburg hosts a conference entitled ”The Re/theorisation of Heritage Studies” 5–8 June 2012. It is organised in collaboration with Association of Critical Heritage Studies, a newly formed international network of scholars and researchers working in the broad and interdisciplinary field of heritage and museum studies. Its primary aim is to promote heritage as an area of critical enquiry. To this end, the Association works to promote dialogue and networking between researchers from different fields and disciplinary backgrounds and between researchers, practitioners and activists. The Association’s web pages are currently hosted by the Australian National University. The Gothenburg conference will be the official launch of the Association. Bosse Lagerqvist at the Dept. of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, is the main contact person for the conference. More information.

The Seventh Annual Tamil Studies Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada, 11–12 May 2012. It is being organised by the University of Toronto the University of Windsor. The plenary speakers are Noboru Karashima, Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan; and A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute for Development Studies, Chennai, India. This conference aims to understand the means by which people come to know, feel, and reflect upon their past. Questions of history, memory, and heritage are all guided by the ethical concerns of the present and by desires regarding the future. The production of alternatives to the dominant narrative might also entail their own forms of exclusion. Contestation arises precisely when the past becomes a resource to remake the contemporary world. But how do we narrate pasts? What counts as “evidence” in such narrations? Whose stories prevail? Which pasts are silenced? More information.

An International Workshop entitled ”Being Muslim in the World: Everyday Ethics and Cultures of Adab” will be held in Islamabad, Pakistan, 23–24 May 2012. The conference is jointly organised by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University, USA, and the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue & Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. The workshop will bring together a select number of scholars focusing on the two spheres of ethics: adab (formally enacted ethics) and everyday ethics. The concern of the workshop is to identify concepts, issues, and directions of research in Muslim lived ethics.
Selected papers presented at the conference will be submitted to appropriate journals such as Journal of Islamic Studies, Journal of Islamic Philosophy, Muslim World, Journal of Asian Studies; Journal of Religious Ethics, and Islamic Studies (Journal of the Islamic Research Institute). The ambition is also to form a network of engaged scholars to organize future conferences and scholarly exchanges. More information.

The Indian artist Srinivasa Prasad from Bangalore will be represented with one of his pieces of art at the outdoor Wanås Konst exhibition inbetween Hässleholm and Knislinge in southernmost Sweden during the summer 2012, from 20 May till 28 October. For his creative work, Prasad uses natural materials such as mud, hay, water, grains, and cow dung, sith a deep root in the tradition and culture of his native land. He also takes in the essence of performing arts to his works and emphasizes the interaction between the audiences and the work. On the green lawn at Wanås, a stretch of tall willows was recently planted, a 40-metre coiling line that would measure 500 metres if it were straight. The saplings are planted in the form of a labyrinth to form Srinivasa Prasad the artist's signature written in Kannada, the provincial language of his Karnataka state in India.
Wanås Konst this season also opens an entirely new room dedicated to film and video art. In the film program ”But a pit stop on a long journey” loaded and imaginary landscapes passes by in films by Indian based artists, namely Neha Choksy, Rohini Devasher and Asim Waqif.
Wanås Konst is run by the Wanås Foundation, a non-profit art foundation located on an estate consisting of a medieval castle, an organic farm, and a sculpture park. Marika Wachtmeister initiated the exhibitions at Wanås in 1987 and is the Founder of the Wanås Foundation. The sculpture park holds a constantly growing number of permanent works by internationally renowned contemporary artists. The focus is on sculpture and installations, most of which are made by the artists specifically for the Wanås Foundation. More information on Wanås Konst and its 2012 exhibition.