Newsletter 49 - 21 February 2005

SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Contents:

SASNET News Research Community News Educational News Conferences and workshops Lectures and seminars Business and Politics South Asia related Culture New and updated information

SASNET News:

• Planning grants to eight projects
Eight projects were selected by the reference group in the latest round of SASNET Planning grants. A total number of 22 applications had been delivered for consideration in the second round of 2004. On Tuesday 15 February 2005 the SASNET Reference group (consisting of three eminent Nordic South Asia scholars) decided to give grants to six research projects/programmes and two related to educational projects. The total amount distributed was 450 000 SEK. More information on the six projects.

• Apply for SASNET Planning grants
Applications for the next round of SASNET planning grants are now invited. Closing date for applications is 15 June 2005. More information.

• Evaluation of SASNET under way
A self-evaluation of SASNET is now under way. The root node staff, assisted by the board, documents the networking and other activities that SASNET has carried out since the start in January 2001. It includes a follow-up study of the 56 planning grants distributed so far – see the planning grants follow-up report. This self-evaluation will be followed by an external expert evaluation during April – June 2005, when a team of three eminent scholars will visit the SASNET root node at Lund; Sida/SAREC and the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm, and whichever SASNET partners they would like to meet with (the universities of Uppsala, Karlstad, Göteborg, etc.).
The evaluation group consists of Prof. Ghanshyam Shah, Political Scientist from Ahmedabad, India; Prof. Carla Risseeuw, Dept. of Anthropology and Development Sociology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands; and Mr. Lennart Wohlgemut, Director of the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala (suggested to be the team leader). A joint consultation between SASNET personnel, external experts, Lund University and Sida SAREC should then take place in June 2005, before a final report will be submitted to SASNET, Sida/SAREC and Lund University. The report will be the basis for SASNET’s application for renewed funding from Sida/SAREC and Lund University for the period 2006–2008.

• SASNET board meeting on 15 February 2005
The SASNET Board met on Tuesday 15 February 2005, discussed the ongoing self-evaluation, approved of eight new planning grants, and decided about the budget for 2005. Besides praising the Internet gateway the board strongly emphasised the priority SASNET should set to reserve half of its budget for distribution of planning grants. The planned contact journey to South Asia should be accommodated within a revised budget. Bandladesh was suggested as one of the countries to be visited. The full minutes of the meeting will soon be made public on this site.

• SASNET lecture on the Criminalization of Politics in Bangladesh
The Professor of Economics at Dhaka University Abul Barkat gives a SASNET lecture at Lund University on Tuesday 15 March 2005, 15–17. Abul Barkat, respected researcher and much engaged in development issues and the public debate on human rights and politics in Bangladesh, will lecture on the ”Criminalization of Politics in Bangladesh”. Barkat comes to Sweden to participate in a workshop on ”Globalization and Health” organised by Health Economics Division at the Dept. of Community Medicine, Lund University (in Malmö) 16–17 March 2005). Venue for the SASNET lecture: Conference room 1, Dept. of Sociology, Paradisgatan, Lund.

Research News

• Doctoral dissertation on young middle-class men in New Delhi
Paolo Favero, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, defends his doctoral dissertation on ”India dreams: Cultural identity among young middle-class men in New Delhi” on Friday 25 February 2005, 10.00. The thesis focuses on the dynamics of social mobility and cultural change among young middle-class men in contemporary urban India, and is is part of a major research project at the department on ”Modernities in transition: A Study of Youth Cultures in Iran, Brazil and India”. Faculty opponent will be Marcus Banks, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK. Venue: Reinholdsalen, Juristernas Hus, Frescati, Stockholm University. In addition to the doctoral dissertation a documentary film called ”Fly over Delhi” has been produced by Paolo Favero and Angelo Fontana. The film was shown during the conference on ”Structures of Vulnerability: Mobilisation and Resistance” that the department organised 12–14 January 2005 – see below. More information on the thesis, with abstract.

• Doctoral dissertation on Pakistani-Norwegian Funeral Rites
Cora Alexa Døving, Department of Culture Studies, University of Oslo, defended her doctoral dissertation on ”Pakistani-Norwegian Funeral Rites – A Study of Migration”, on Friday 11 February 2005. The thesis deals with the creation and re-establishment of burial practices amongst Pakistanis in Oslo.
It focuses partly on the entrepreneurs, mainly as leaders of different welfare organisations, who have established a large contact network both in the Pakistaniani milieu, and also with different Norwegian institutions who are involved with various aspects of death. First opponent was Associate Professor Barbro Blehr, Dept. of Ethnology, Stockholm University. More information (in Norwegian only).

• Nordic Konfucius Institute for Chinese language studies inaugurated in Stockholm
A Nordic Konfucius Institute for Chinese language and cultural studies was inaugurated at Stockholm University on Friday 18 February 2005, 14.00-16.30. It is part of an extensive setting up by the Chinese government of 100 similar centres all over the World. A formal agreement was recently signed between Kåre Bremer, vice-chancellor of Stockholm University, and Yan Meihua, Director for China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL) in Beijing. Half the budget for teaching, seminars and cultural activities will be covered by NOCFL. The Konfucius Institute will be connected to Stockholm University’s Dept. of Oriental Languages. Venue for the inauguration: Main hall, House 4, Kräftriket. More information (pdf-file, only in Swedish)

• KTH releases book on Arsenic contamination of groundwater
A new book on “Natural Arsenic in Groundwater: Occurrence, Remediation and Management” has just been published by Taylor & Francis. The book features chapters on the Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh and India, and is edited by Prosun Bhattacharya, Associate Professor of Groundwater Chemistry (Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm), in collaboration with Jochen Bundschuh and D. Chandrashekharam. The book will be officially released at a function at the Royal Institute of Technology in connection with an India evening at KTH in Stockholm on 16 March 2005. More information on the book project.

• Applications for research Training Programme in Kolkata invited
The Indian Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, invites applications for its research Training Programme in History, Economics, Political Science, Geography, Sociology, Social Anthropology and Cultural studies. The programme, funded by The South-South exchange programme for research on the history of development (SEPHIS), will run from August 2005 to June 2006 and is meant for research students in India and the countries of the South in the early stages of their doctoral work. Last date for applications from international participants is 31 March 2005 and for students from India 15 June 2005.

• Academic research papers easily accessible with Google Scholar
Academic research papers online are now easily accessible with Google Scholar. This additional service was introduced by the World’s leading search engine Google in January 2005. Specific searches for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports, are now made possible. Google Scholar also automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, even if the documents they refer to are not online. This means the search results may include citations of older works and seminal articles that appear only in books or other offline publications. Go to Google Scholar.

• NORFACE invites for applications for Research Seminar Scheme 2005
NORFACE, a partnership between seven European research councils, now invites for applications for its Research Seminar Scheme 2005. NORFACE that has an ambition to increase co-operation in research and research policy in Europe, consists of the research councils from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The objectives of the seminar series competition should be to improve cross-border collaboration in the existing areas of strength and excellence, promote areas of new emerging research, and include young researchers in order to improve their opportunities for cross-border collaboration between researchers.
Two themes have been identified by the NORFACE Network Board for the first year, they are: • Science Policy and Science in Society; and • Security Challenges (including Terrorism). Deadline for submission of applications: 1 April 2005. Invitations for applications within other themes will be given in 2006 and 2007.

• Doctoral Research studentships on Jain studies at the University of Heidelberg
The South Asia Institute at University of Heildelberg offers two fully-funded Doctoral Research studentships beginning from April 2005. The research project is within the field of South Asian History/Indology & Jainism/Anthropology, and the studentships are to be offered as part of an interdisciplinary research group funded through the Emmy Noether-Programme of the German Research Association. The project, coordinated and headed by Dr. Julia A. B. Hegewald, deals with Jainism in Karnataka: A Study of its Architecture, History and Religion. Closing date for applications is 28 February 2005. More information.

• 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 4 April 2004 is the closing date for applications for scholarships during the period May–August 2005. 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 4 April 2004 is the closing date for applications for scholarships during the period May–August 2005. More information.

Educational News

Conferences and courses

• South Asian sociologists meet at conference in Surajkund
A South Asia Workshop on ”The State of Sociology: Issues of Relevance and Rigour” is held at Surajkund, south of New Delhi, India, 23–25 February 2005. The workshop is organised by the Indian Sociological Society, supported by the International Sociology Association. The convenor is Professor Ravinder Kaur, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. The SASNET Director, Prof. Staffan Lindberg, will participate in the workshop. Full tentative programme (as a pdf-file)

• Göteborg Conference on Negotiating Gender Justice
The Centre for Global Gender Studies at PADRIGU, Göteborg University, Sweden, arranges a conference on ”Negotiating Gender Justice”, 28 February – 2 March 2005. This conference focuses on gender relations in countries in the South and aims at exploring how meanings of gender justice are negotiated at all levels of society, in parliaments as well as in bedrooms. Out of the 12 guest speakers from the Third World two are Indian: Dr. Kumud Sharma from the Centre for Women's Development Studies, Delhi, and V. Geetha Asia College of Journalism, Chennai.

• Grenå conference on Reconstructing Post Conflict Societies
The Association of Development Researchers in Denmark (FAU) holds a conference on “Reconstructing Post Conflict Societies – Challenges and Possibilities”, at Djursvold Kursuscenter, Grenå, 2–4 March 2005. The conference includes workshops on: ‘Peacebuilding and Implications for Societies Emerging from Internal Conflict’; ‘Diaspora and Development in Post-conflict Societies’; ‘(Re-) Development of the Private Sector in Post-war Societies: Opportunities and Challenges.’: and ‘Reforming State violence – the Role of Justice System Reform in Post-Conflict Societies’.

• Fourth Annual Regional Meeting of OneWorld South Asia
OneWorld South Asia holds its Fourth Annual Regional Meeting 3–4 March 2005 in New Delhi, India. The theme for the conference is ”Towards building Communities of Practice (CoPs) for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. 400 delegates from the South Asian region are expected to take part. The delegates would include development experts, academicians, practitioners and policy makers. Venue: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

• New Delhi Symposium on Tsunami-Science, Society and Governance
An International Symposium on Tsunami-Science, Society and Governance is held in New Delhi, India, 5–6 March 2005. Among the participating organisations at the symposium are found the Geological Survey of India, UNDP, Oxfam, and Universities in India. Venue: India International Centre, 40 Lodi Estate, New Delhi. More information.

• Stockholm conference on Militant Islamism in Afghanistan
An International Seminar on the ”Emergence of Militant Islamism and its Relevance for Afghanistan” is held in Stockholm 10–11 March 2005. The seminar is arranged by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, with support from Sida. Invited speakers include Professor Ahmad Moussalli from Beirut, Sima Samar, the journalist Ahmed Rashid, Gilles Kepel, Professor Jan Hjärpe and Magnus Norell. Some Afghanistan cabinet ministers and the ambassador in Washington will also take part in the high-profile conference.

• Kathmandu conference on Nepal Tarai: Context and Possibilities
A conference on ”Nepal Tarai: Context and Possibilities” is held in Kathmandu, Nepal, 10–11 March 2005. The conference is hosted by the Social Science Baha, an organisation set up in January 2002 by people who believed that the study of the social sciences needed to be encouraged and facilitated in Nepal. Issues to be covered during the conference, focusing on the southern Tarai region, ranges from development to environment, from identity and rights to infrastructure and economic advancement. More information.

• Jaina Law and the Jaina Community theme for 7th Jaina Studies Workshop
The 7th Jaina Studies Workshop with the theme ”Jaina Law and the Jaina Community” is held at University of London, UK, 17–18 March 2005. The workshop is arranged by the Centre of Jaina Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in collaboration with the Dept. of Indic Religions, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University. On the first day Prof. Phyllis Granoff from Yale University, USA, will hold the 5th Annual Lecture on Jainism, titled ”Protecting the Faith: Exploring the Concerns of Jain Monastic Rules”. More information.

• Sussex conference in commemoration of of the Santal Rebellion
The University of Sussex organizes a conference on ”Reinterpreting Adivasi (Indigenous peoples) Movements in South Asia”, 21–23 March 2005. The conference is held in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Santal Rebellion in the present state of Jharkhand in eastern India. It aims at allowing an international reassessment of the role of tribal movements in the histories of colonial and postcolonial South Asia, and enable close examination of the construction of indigeneity in many discourses, from the nation-state to its historiography, and from Hindutva to sub-nationalist politics. Venue: Graduate Centre in the School of Humanities, and Graduate Centre in the School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

• British Association for South Asian Studies meet at Leeds
The British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS) organises its 2005 Annual Conference at the University of Leeds, UK, 30 March–1 April 2005. BASAS is the largest UK academic association for the study of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and the South Asian Diaspora. Some of the panels accepted so far: ”Nepali Identity in the Diaspora”, ”It's shining for some: an exploration of India's post-liberalisation middle classes”, ”Religion and Politics in Contemporary Pakistan”, and ”Maritime archaeology and ethnographic approaches in India”. Professor Staffan Lindberg, Director of SASNET, will take part in the conference. Last date for registration: 25 February 2005. More information.

• Building Alliances and Blurring Boundaries theme for Pakistan Workshop 2005
The Pakistan Workshop 2005 with the theme ”Building Alliances and Blurring Boundaries” will be held at Rook How, in the English Lake District 6–8 May 2005. The focus of the workshop will be on different types of alliances and those who engages in them. The Pakistan Workshop has been held regularly in the idyllic country setting of the Lake District since 1986. It was formed to provide anthropologists and other social scientist with a venue to meet and discuss ongoing research. The Workshop has always maintained a relaxed atmosphere for exchanging ideas and meeting people.

• Oslo conference on Crossroads: Debating Women's Rights, Racism and Religion
The Nordic Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Research at the University of Oslo arranges a conference on ”Crossroads: Debating Women's Rights, Racism and Religion”, 31 May–1 June 2005. A principal aim of the conference is to initiate dialogue between minority and majority feminist researchers, and be a forum for discussion on issues like what anti-racist feminism is, and how solidarity politics can be expressed? Other themes to be brought up during workshops include ”Gender, Citizenship and Politics” and ”Theorizing the Diaspora in Literary and Cultural Studies”. Among the keynote speakers are Uma Narayan, Professor in Philosophy at Vassar College, USA. Her book ”Dislocating Cultures” discusses Third world feminism, including different understandings of violence against women. Venue: Helga Eng's house, at the University of Oslo, Blindern. More information

• Contemporary Dramas of South Asia theme for NASA conference in Aarhus
After a gap of four years the Nordic Association for South Asian Studies, NASA, arranges a conference 3–5 June 2005 in Aarhus, Denmark. The theme for the conference (that normally should be a biannual event) will be ”Contemporary Dramas of South Asia: Economic, Social, Political and Cultural Changes/Upheavals”, and it is organised by the University of Aarhus. The conference includes workshops on • Globalization, economic changes and socio-political upheavals; • States and minorities in South Asia; • Imagining Nations: middle classes and processes of nation formation in South Asia; • A South Asian security conundrum?; • Anti-oppressive movements; • Secularism in South Asia; and • Health, Globalization and Marginalization in South Asia. Keynote speakers are Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot, director of the Centre d’Etudes et Recherches Internationales (CERI), Paris; Professor Zoya Hasan, Centre for Political Studies, Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Professor Martin Sökefeld, Dept. of Anthropology, Hamburg University; and Professor Isabelle Clark-Deces, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University. More information on the NASA conference.

• Michigan conference on Modern Constructions of the Miraculous and the Mysterious
The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) invites proposals and abstracts for its annual meeting at Albion College, Michigan, USA, 9–12 June 2005. The conference theme is “Modern Constructions of the Miraculous and the Mysterious.” Paper proposals should be submitted to the conference chairman Selva J. Raj no later than February 10, 2005. The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) is a forum of exchange for scholars engaged in the academic study of the religious traditions of India in both native and diasporic contexts. More information.

• Helsinki WIDER conference on the Future of Development Economics
The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) invites for a Jubilee Conference on 'WIDER Thinking Ahead: the Future of Development Economics', in Helsinki, Finland, 17–18 June 2005. Leading International researchers and policymakers will meet at the conference to mark UNU-WIDER's jubilee anniversary, and to reflect upon where we now stand in development economics and what the next two decades might hold. Applications to participate should be sent before 14 February 2005. More information.

• Transforming Landscapes of Poverty theme for Norwegian NFU conference
The Annual Conference of The Norwegian Association for Development Research (NFU) will be held 20–21 June 2005 on the campus of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås close to Oslo. This year’s conference is a collaboration between NFU and Noragric, the Department of International Environment and Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. The theme for the 2005 conference is ”Transforming Landscapes of Poverty – Resources, Rights and Conflicts”, and includes panels on ”Landscapes of Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Societies”, and ”The poor in space: Location matters for poverty”. More information.

• 800 papers to be presented at Stockholm World Congress of Sociology
The 37th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology will be held in Stockholm 5–9 July 2005. The Congress will allow social scientists from different parts of the world to exchange ideas and to establish long-term collaborative relationships. Its plenary and semi- plenary sessions will focus on the ”Frontiers of Sociology”. Prof. T.K. Oommen, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, is one of the convenors for the semi-plenary session on ”Multiple Modernities and Social Theory”. There will also be up to 160 regular sessions, in which up to 800 different papers will be presented. Several panels focus on South Asian issues. Venue: Stockholm Conference Centre, Norra Latin, Drottninggatan 71 B. More information.
The Indian Institute For Sustainable Development And Research (ISDR) organizes one of the sessions at the 37th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology in Stockholm. It is a session called ”New Partnership Between European and Asian Institutes for Socio-Economic-Environmental Development and Management”, and aims to explore the nature, role and relevance of the urban development and its impacts both in theory and in practice in South Asia and in the EU region and to highlight approaches and methods for improving local environment. For more information contact the session convenor, Dr. Anand Govind Bhole.

• Uppsala University arranges third Balochistan conference
The 3rd international conference on Balochistan with the theme ”Pluralism in Balochistan” will be held in Uppsala 18–21 August 2005. Balochistan has throughout history been one of the important meeting points between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau. Today's Balochistan is divided between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the conference wants to highlight various aspects of plurality in presentday Balochistan. Researchers are invited to present papers with a focus on socioeconomic, religious, linguistic, literary and cultural plurality in Balochistan. The conference is organised by the Iranian Studies division at the Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University. More information (as a pdf-file)

• Drainage Basin Management theme for 2005 World Water Week
The 2005 World Water Week will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, 21–27 August. The annual World Water Week in Stockholm has become a valuable meeting point and platform for the world’s water community, and includes topical plenary sessions and panel debates, scientific Stockholm Water Symposium workshops, seminars and side events organised by different international organisations, exhibitions and festive prize ceremonies honouring excellence in the water field. Usually a large number of the delegates come from South Asia. Abstracts for presentation are accepted until 1 February. The overall theme for the 2005 World Water Week is “Drainage Basin Management. Hard and Soft Solutions in Regional Development.” More information on on the World Water Week web site.

• Invitation for Wisconsin-Madison’s 34th Annual Conference on South Asia
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 34th Annual Conference on South Asia will be held 6–9 October 2005. The Conference is sponsored by the university’s Center for South Asia, and usually attracts over 500 scholars and other interested parties every year. The 2005 conference features over 70 academic panels and roundtables as well as association meetings and special events ranging from performances to film screenings. More information.

• Dhaka conference on Mainstreaming Ageing in Health Systems and Rural Development
An International Conference on ”Mainstreaming Ageing in Health Systems and Rural Development” is held in Dhaka, Bangladesh 28–30 November 2005. The conference is organised by the European Commission-funded PHILL (Primary Health-Care in Later Life: improving services in Bangladesh and Vietnam) group including the Division of Geriatric Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet Medical University. The other partners in the research consortium are BRAC Research & Evaluation Division, Health Strategy and Policy Institute (HSPI), Bangladesh; the Health Strategy and Policy Institute, Vietnam; and the Overseas Development Group (ODG), University of East Anglia, UK. Venue: Dhaka Hotel Sheraton. More information on the conference.

• 11th Himalayan Languages Symposium to be held in Bangkok
The 11th Himalayan Languages Symposium will be hosted by the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, on 6–9 December 2005. The Himalayan Languages Symposia (HLS) brings together scholars working on languages and language communities of the greater Himalayan region, including north-western and north-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, northern Burma, the Tibetan Plateau, southern China, and Nuristan, Baltistan and the Burushaski-speaking area in the west. The previous HLS was held in Thimphu, Bhutan, in December 2004. More information will be posted on the conference website: http://pioneer.chula.ac.th/~hkrisada/HLS/ from March 2005.

• Kelaniya University organises 10th Conference on Sri Lankan Studies
The 10th Conference on Sri Lankan Studies (10th ICSLS) will be held 16–18 December 2005 at the Kelaniya University, Sri Lanka. The theme is “Sri Lanka after 500 Years of Western Colonization and Future Perspectives”, and the conference will be hosted by the Social Science Research Center of the University of Kelaniya. Deadline for abstract submission is 30th May 2005. More details are now available at the Sri Lanka Studies Network web site.

• First circular for 19th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies
The 19th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS) will be held at Leiden University, the Netherlands, 27–30 June 2006. Panel suggestions are now invited, and should be given before 1 June 2005. Read the first announcement for the conference (as a pdf-file)

• Other 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

• Bengali folk artists on tour to Sweden
A group of ten folk musicians, dancers and singers from Purulia, in the western part of the Indian state of West Bengal, visit Sweden in March. A performance called ”Bengali Night” featuring suggestive so-called jhumu music and nachni dance (by Shonda Rani), will be given at Södra Teatern in Stockholm on Friday 11 March 2005, 20.00. A group of baul singers from the same region will also take part in the show. The Indian group’s visit to Sweden is part of a five-year Sida-sponsored project called Voices of the Children, aimed at strengthening children’s theatre in Asia. More information on the performance (under ”program”).
The Purulia folk artists’ tour to Sweden has been initiated by Associate Professor Christina Nygren, Dept. of Musicology and Theatre Studies, Stockholm University. She is presently completing an extensive research project on popular forms of theatre in Bangladesh and West Bengal. More information on her project. The day before the performance in Strockholm, on Thursday 10 March 2005, 19.00, she will lead a seminar on ”Traditional Bengali theatre, culture and music” with the ten artists from Purulia. The seminar will be held at Tonsalen in the Slava Theatre in Huddinge, south of Stockholm (Kyrkogårdsvägen 2).

• Afghani superstar Hangama performs in Stockholm
The Afghani superstar Hangama gives a concert in Stockholm on Friday 11 March 2005, 18.30. Hangama firsst appeared on Radio Afghanistan in 1974 and soon became extremely popular. She fled the country during the civil war and stayed for 14 years in Germany. She now resides in Canada. Venue: Folkets Hus (Norra Bantorget, Stockholm.

New and updated items on SASNET web site

• More Swedish departments where research on South Asia is going on:
Added (and updated) to the list of research environments at Swedish universities, presented by SASNET. The full list now includes 147 departments. Go to the presentation page.

ƒ School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University

ƒ SPIDER, Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions, Dept. of Computer and Systems Sciences, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm (also based at Stockholm University)

ƒ Division of Gender and Medicine, Dept. of Molecular and Clinical Medicine; Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University

ƒ Division of Operation and Maintenance Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

ƒ Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) (changed name on 31 December 2004, previously the Centre for Environmental Studies,MICLU)

ƒ National Institute for Working Life, Stockholm

ƒ Dept. of Sociology, Stockholm University

ƒ Dept. of History , Uppsala University

ƒ Dept. of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University