SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK
Subscribe to the newsletter by sending an e-mail to sasnet@sasnet.lu.se!
Contents:
SASNET News:
• Full reports from the SASNET contact journey to Pakistan and Afghanistan now available
The SASNET director Professor Staffan Lindberg, and deputy director/webmaster Lars Eklund successfully completed their contact journey to Pakistan and Afghanistan lasting from Thursday 20 November – Sunday 7 December 2003.
The aim of the tour was to link up the SASNET activities with universities and research institutions in the two countries, They visited Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore in Pakistan; and Kabul in Afghanistan.
It turned out to be an extremely fruitful journey, both building on the already existing academic links between a few researchers/institutions in Sweden and Pakistan, and promoting new forms of cooperation there as well as in Afghanistan.
Read full reports from our meetings during the journey!
• Minutes from SASNET Board meeting 4 February 2004
The new board of SASNET had its first meeting on Tuesday 4 February 2004. The board decided to put full priority on the arrangement and financing of the EASAS conference in July. It also decided to establish a reference group to help connecting Pakistani PhD students with Swedish supervisors/departments, a proposal raised by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Read the minutes from the meeting (as a pdf-file).
• SASNET presented in the Lund University monthly magazine
Lund University’ s monthly bulletin LUM – Lunds Universitet Meddelar – in its February 2004 issue presented SASNET in an article (in Swedish language) called ”Hemsidan är basen för SASNET”. Read the article (as a pdf-file).
• Great International interest for the EASAS conference in Lund in July 2004
The 18th EASAS conference organized by SASNET and Lund University 6–9 July 2004 has attracted a great interest from researchers on South Asia related studies from all over the World. More than 200 researchers have already registered for the conference, which will have a total number of 46 panels, covering a wide scope of research fields from the social sciences and humanities to medicine and technology. Go for the full list of panels!
• Register to the conference before 1 May 2004
The last date for registration has been changed to 1 May 2004, and the conference fee should be paid before 1 June. Full information on the conference, including registration forms, links to hotels in Lund, etc. is found at our conference web page, http://www.sasnet.lu.se/EASAS18.html.
• Apply for SASNET planning grants before 15 June 2004
Applications are now invited for the coming round of SASNET planning grants for research and educational projects and programmes involving Swedish researchers in collaboration with colleagues/institutions in South Asia. SASNET has distributed 40 planning grants since the start in 2001. Go for the full list of these grants given.
Closing date for applications to the new round is 15 June 2004, and decisions will be taken in the end of August. More information.
• SASNET arranged lecture with Sidsel Hansson
Dr. Sidsel Hansson from the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, and the Centre for East och South East Asian Studies held a SASNET lecture on ”Reinventing a sacred landscape? The Ganges river as a contested domain” on Tuesday 2 March 2004. The lecture was based on material from her 2001 doctoral thesis entitled ‘Not just any water? Hinduism, ecology and the Ganges water controversy’. This was the first SASNET lecture to be held at its new location in connection with the Centre for East och South East Asian Studies at Ideon Research Park, Alfa 1 building.
• Use SASNET’s advanced search function
An advanced search function was created for SASNET two years ago by Netlab at Lund University. It provides for a full text search not only to our own web site, but also to all the pages we link up to, in two steps (at present that means more than 20 000 web pages). Therefore our engine is most useful for searching material specifically connected to South Asia. It is found at http://www.sasnet.lu.se/searchf.html
Community News:
• Rosen von Rosenstein medal awarded to Professor Fehmida Jalil
Uppsala University has decided to award the 2004 Rosen von Rosenstein medal to Professor Emeritus Dr. Fehmida Jalil, Dept. of Social and Preventive Paediatrics, King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan. Prof. Jalil has for 40 years been involved in cooperation with five different Swedish universities working on projects related to preventive paediatrics in Pakistan. She will receive the medal at a ceremony on Wednesday 17 March, 17.30. Venue: Uppsala University, Gustavianum. Earlier the same day, 13–13.45 she will hold the traditional Rosen lecture in the Grönwall hall. The lecture deals with ”Perinatal problems in Pakistan”. More information on Prof. Fehmida Jalil.
• Virtual resource centre on Bangladesh run by Chr. Michelsen Institut
A virtual resource centre on Bangladesh has been created by Chr. Michelsen Institute for Development Studies and Human Rights, Bergen, Norway. It is part of the institute’s role to be a competance centre on Bangladesh, a mission given by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). Go to the useful web site.
• Lund University awards honoray doctorate to Lasse Berg
The Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University has decided to award the Swedish journalist and filmmaker Lasse Berg with an honorary doctorate because of his well-informed and scientifically based portrayals of people and environments in Asia and Africa. He is considered to be one of the leading Swedish journalists in the field of development and Third World studies, and his films and books are widely used as course material at Swedish universities. The conferment ceremony will take place on Friday 28 May 2004.
• Report from the KTH high-level delegation yo India in October 2002
A high-level delegation from KTH, Kungl Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm, including the Rector of the university Anders Flodström, and 11 other distinguished professors, made a tour to India in October 2002, to meet with partner institutes and the steel and automotive industry. The tour has since resulted in a number of formal agreements on Indo-Swedish research co-operation. Among the involved researchers on the Swedish side are Professor Seshadri Seetharaman, Theoretical Process Metallurgy, and Assoc. Professor Ramon Wyss, Theoretical Nuclear Physics, and vice president of International affairs at KTH. Wyss has especially been involved in a project on developing the waterways of Kerala.
Read the KTH report from the India tour (as a pdf-file)
• Scandinavian academic journal for the study of Indian religions published from Lund
The new Scandinavian academic journal for the study of Indian religions is published from Lund University. The journal called Chakra focuses on both contemporary and historical aspects of Indian religions in Asian and diasporic contexts. The first volume will come in March 2004, and deals with ”Female images and appearances in Indian religions”. More information on Chakra.
Vacant research positions/Fellowships
• Professorship in South Asian and Indo-European Studies at Helsinki University
A Professorship in South Asian and Indo-European Studies is announced at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Finland. The post will be filled for a fixed term of five years, and the relevant field of teaching has been specified as the most important modern and classical languages of South Asia (especially the Indian subcontinent) and the region’s religions, literature and other expressions of culture. Applicants for the professorship must have an adequate knowledge of the Finnish language and also be able to understand the Swedish language. Closing date for applications: 31 March 2004.
• Associate Professor of Hindi language at Oslo University
A position as Associate Professor of Hindi language is vacant in the Department of East European and Oriental Studies, University of Oslo, Norway. The minimum requirement for appointment is a completed doctoral degree or equivalent academic qualifications in Hindi (literature and/or language). Academic qualifications or research experience in another Indian language, preferably a Northwestern Indian language, will be an advantage. The candidate's work must demonstrate knowledge of conditions in present day India, and he/she must be prepared to co-operate with the Urdu teacher in the Hindi-Urdu elementary course. Closing date for applications is 20 April 2004.
• NIAS Contact Scholarships for Nordic Graduate Students
The Nordic Institute for Asian Studies offer scholarships designed to make NIAS‚ library and other resources accessible to graduate students in the Nordic countries. A scholarship covers inexpensive travel to and from Copenhagen and accommodation in a NIAS room at Nordisk Kollegium, with full board for a period of two weeks. It must be noted that because only one room at the Nordisk Kollegium is available for this scholarship programme, stays are arranged subject to a time schedule administered by NIAS. Monday 5 April 2004 for scholarships during the period May-June and August-September 2004. More information.
• NIAS Guest Researcher Scholarships
Senior researchers and postgraduate students based in the Nordic countries are offered scholarships, giving an opportunity to work at NIAS as an affiliated researcher for 2 or 4 weeks. A scholarship includes inexpensive travel to and from Copenhagen and accommodation with full board in a NIAS room at Nordisk Kollegium. The guest researcher enjoys full access to the Institute’s library services and research tools, computer facilities, contact networks and scholarly environment. Monday 5 April 2004 for scholarships during the period May-June and August-September 2004. More information.
Educational News
• 10 million students in pre-graduate degree courses across India every year
Every year, approximately 19 million students are enrolled in high schools and 10 million students in pre-graduate degree courses across India. Moreover, 2.1 million graduates and 0.3 million post-graduates pass out of India's non-engineering colleges. While 2.5-3 percent of them find jobs in other fields or pursue further studies abroad, the rest opt for employment in the IT industry. If the flow from high schools to graduate courses increases even marginally, there will be a massive increase in the number of skilled workers available to the industry. Even at current rates, there will approximately be 17 million people available to the IT industry by 2008. News item from Outsourcing@INDIA, web platform developed by Tata Telecom.
Important lectures and seminars
• Lunch seminar at NIAS with Indian ambassador to Denmark
The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen arranges a lunch seminar with H.E. Harsh Bhasin, Ambassador of India to Denmark (photo to the right), on Wednesday 10 March, 13–14. Mr Bhasin will talk on ”Recent Developments in the Indian Subcontinent”, focusing on ongoing developments in the relationship between India and Pakistan, and the prospects for a lasting peace in a foreseeable future. After his presentation there will be time for questions and comments. Venue: NIAS, Leifsgade 33, Copenhagen S.
• Copenhagen seminar on ”Girls and Education
A seminar on ”Girls and Education, A Human Right or a Duty for the Society” is arranged in Copenhagen on Wednesday 10 March 2004, 19.00. Ben Phillips from Global Campaign for Education, and Oxfam, England, will take part in the seminar arranged by Ibis. He has a co-writer to a recent research report called ”A Fair Chance – Attaining gender equality in basic education by 2005”. Jytte Agergård, Asst. Prof. at the Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, will also present her research on girls education in Nepal. Venue: Ibis, Nørrebrogade 68 B, Copenhagen. More information.
• Srilankan PhD candidates lecture on their research at a NIAS lunch seminar
Two current guest scholars, PhD Candidates Shantha Wanninayake and Shanti Wijesinghe, lectures at NIAS in Copenhagen on Thursday 11 March, 13.00-13.30. They both come from the Institute of Peace and Development Research (Padrigu), Göteborg University, and will talk over lunch about their thesis projects, and the present situation in Sri Lanka. Shantha Wanninayake is writing about ”Forced Migration and Internal Displacement in War Affected Areas in Sri Lanka” and Shanti Wijesinghe is working on ”Resettlement, Reconstruction and Health in North Eastern Province in Sri Lanka”. Venue: Leifsgade 33, Copenhagen S.
• Uppsala seminar on cultivation of Illicit crops in Colombia and Afghanistan
A seminar on ”Cultivation of Illicit Crops and Alternative Development; the case of Colombia as compared to Laos and Afghanistan” is organized by the Colombia Forum at the Collegium for Development Studies, Uppsala University on Wednesday 17 March 2004, 9.00-17.00. While focusing on the drugs situation in Colombia Ian Christoplos (photo to the left) from the Dept. of Rural Development and Agroecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, will give Asian perspectives on the handling of illegal crops, and alternative development in Afghanistan and Laos. Christoplos recently visited Afghanistan. Venue: Main University Building, Lecture Hall IX, Uppsala. Registration should be done before 5 March. More information.
• Fehmida Jalil lectures in Uppsala on Perinatal problems in Pakistan
Professor Emeritus Dr. Fehmida Jalil from the Dept. of Social and Preventive Paediatrics, King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan, lectures on ”Perinatal problems in Pakistan”, at Uppsala University, Wednesday 17 March 2004, 13–13.45. Venue: Gustavianum. Prof. Jalil, who for 40 years has been involved in cooperation with five different Swedish universities working on projects related to preventive paediatrics in Pakistan, will come to Uppsala to receive the 2004 Rosen von Rosenstein medal at a ceremony later on in the afternoon. More information on Prof. Fehmida Jalil.
• Marc Galanter lectures on courts in India at Oslo University
The Network for Asia Studies (Nettverk for Asiastudier) at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), Oslo University, arranges a public lecture with Professor Marc Galanter, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, on Thursday 18 March, 14.15–16. Prof. Galanter will talk about ”Gruff Justice: Lok Adalats, Informalism and the Courts in India”. Venue:SUM, Seminar room, 4th floor, Sognsveien 68, Oslo. More information.
• Joseph E. Schwartzberg lectures in Oslo on the Kashmir conflict
Professor Joseph E. Schwartzberg, University of Minnesota, USA, holds a guest lecture on the Kashmir conflict, in Oslo on Monday 22 March, 14.15-16.00. The lecture is arranged by the Network for Asia Studies (Nettverk for Asiastudier) at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), Oslo University. Venue: Sted: SUM, Seminar room, 4th floor, Sognsveien 68, Oslo. More information.
• Henri Tiphagne lectures in Copenhagen on Indian Democracy and Caste Discrimination
Henri Tiphagne, Director from People's Watch in Tamil Nadu, India holds a lecture on ”Indian Democracy and Caste Discrimination” at Copenhagen University on Thursday 25 March 2004, 14–16. Tiphagne who is the initiator of the Dalit Human Rights Monitoring Programme in India, has been invited to Denmark by the International Dalit Solidarity Network, and the lecture is arranged in collaboration with the Dept. of History of Religion. Venue: Room U2, Snorresgade 17-19, Copenhagen.
• Uppsala workshop on Political Corruption and Democracy
A conference and workshop on ”Political Corruption and Democracy – the Role of Development Assistance” is arranged by the Collegium for Development Studies at Uppsala University, in collaboration with Sida's Division for Democratic Governance, 29–30 March 2004. The aim of the conference is to discuss development cooperation and its connection to political corruption, defined as the use of resources to acquire or exercise political power in illegitimate ways. Times: March 29, 9.00–17.00; and March 30, 9.00–15.30. Venue: Missionskyrkan, S:t Olofsgatan 40, Uppsala. Registration should be done before 8 March to Mia Melin.
• Eva-Maria Hardtmann holds a SASNET lecture on Indian Dalits in a globalising world
SASNET in collaboration with the Centre for East and South East Asian Studies, Lund University, arranges a guest lecture on Tuesday 13 April 15.15–17.00. The lecturer is Dr. Eva-Maria Hardtmann, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, and she will talk on ”Indian Dalits in a globalisng world”, where she will discuss their networks, message and strategies and about their participation in the World Social Forum in Mumbai in January 2004. In November 2003 Eva-Maria Hardtmann defended her PhD thesis 'Our Fury is Burning': Local Practice and Global Connections in the Dalit Movement.' Venue: Hanlin-salen, ACE, House Alfa 1, Ideon Research Park, Scheelevägen 15, Lund.
Conferences and courses
• Workshop at Lund University on Piracy in Asia
A Workshop on ”Piracy and Non-traditional Threats to Maritime Security in Asia” is held at Lund University 7–8 May 2004. The workshop is organised by the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, in collaboration with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen. Deadline for receiving paper abstracts is 31 March 2004. Funding for travel and other expenses will be available for a limited number of scholars from the Nordic countries. More information.
• PhD course on PhD Course on Conflict and Development in the Developing World
A PhD Course on ”Conflict, Human Security, Governance and Development in the Developing World” is held at Aalborg Airbase in Denmark, 9–12 May 2004. The PhD course is organized by the Danish PhD Network on Development and International Relations, and the Research Center on Development and International Relations. Applications are invited before 1 April from Danish and foreign Ph.D. candidates for participation in the intense four-day course.
• First announcement for the 14th World Water Week in Stockholm
The 14th World Water Week in Stockholm, internationally known as a global platform for continuing dialogue on critical water issues, takes place 16–20 August 2004. An exciting series of leading-edge seminars, side events and ceremonies – together with the Stockholm Water Symposium – make the World Water Week a valuable meeting point for experts and organisations from many water-related disciplines. The First Announcement includes a call for abstracts and posters for the 14th Stockholm Water Symposium, ”Drainage Basin Security – Regional Approaches for Food and Urban Security”. More information.
• Nordic conference on Ritual practices in Indian religions at Lund University
A Nordic conference on ”Ritual practices in Indian religions and contexts” is held at Lund University 9–11 December 2004. The conference is arranged by the seminars of Indian Religions and Ritual Studies at the Department of History and Anthropology of Religion, Lund University, in cooperation with the academic journal Chakra – Tidskrift för indiska religioner. Scholars and PhD students engaged in research concerning Indian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism) and rituals are invited to take part. Presented papers will be considered for publication in the journal Chakra. Participants should register for the conference and submit their abstracts for papers before 1 April 2004. More information.
• More conferences connected to South Asian studies arranged all over the World, see SASNET’s page, http://www.sasnet.lu.se/conferences.html#conf
Cultural News
• Photo exhibition on Women in Bangladesh
A Photo exhibition about Women in Bangladesh is arranged in Oslo Wednesday 3 March – Sunday 14 March 2004. The photographs are taken by Elin Høyland. Venue: Rådhusgalleriet, Oslo Rådhus (entrance from seaside). More information.
New and updated items on SASNET web site
• More Swedish departments where research on South Asia is going on:
Added to the list of research environments at Swedish universities, presented by SASNET. The full list now includes 111 departments. Go to the presentation page.
ƒ Dept of Technology, Kalmar University
ƒ Division of Analytical Chemistry, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University
ƒ Dept. of Business Law, School of Economics and Management, Lund University
• Several new articles recommended for reading
Look at http://www.sasnet.lu.se/recreading.html for suggestions on interesting new articles on South Asia in International media. New items added, especially on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (e g an interesting article by Sten Widmalm, Dept of Government, Uppsala University, published in Axess magazine).
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, Scheelevägen 15 B, S-223 70 Lund, Sweden
Visiting address: Ideon Research Park, House Alfa 1 (first floor, room no. 2042), in the premises of the Centre for East and South East Asian Studies at Lund University (ACE).
Phone: + 46 46 222 73 40
Fax: + 46 46 222 30 41
E-mail: sasnet@sasnet.lu.se
Web site: http://www.sasnet.lu.se
Staff: Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator & Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director
