Newsletter 56 - 20 October 2005
Last updated: 9 November 2011
SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK
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Contents:
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SASNET News
Research Community News
• Nordic Centre in India (NCI) general assembly met in Uppsala
The Nordic Centre in India (NCI) Consortium held its 2005 General
Assembly in Uppsala on Tuesday 18 October. The consortium, now consisting of 11 member universities in the Nordic countries, aims at supporting collaboration on research and education betweeen the Nordic countries and India. NCI secured its official clearance from the Indian government only in 2004, and now heads for a more expansive phase. An Indian consultant, Mr. Malik, today works part-time for NCI in New Delhi, assisting with research visa applications and arranging meetings, besides being responsible for the NCI flat for visiting Swedish researchers and academics in Nizamuddin East. A successful collaboration has been established with the University of Hyderabad, offering summer courses for Nordic students, and from the Fall 2005 also full semester courses. Similar agreements on collaboration is presently under way also with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, and a number of other Indian universities and research institutes. At the meeting the Uppsala University based NCI Director, Beppe Karlsson (photo to the right), presented plans for the future on how ro recruit more Nordic member institutions. The board also raised the idea of NCI arranging a conference on Indo-Nordic collaboration prospects. Such a conference may take place in New Delhi within one or two years. More information on the Nordic Centre in India.
• Nicobar Islands culture documented by Simron Jit Singh
”The Nicobar Islands. Cultural Choices in the Aftermath of the Tsunami” is the title of a new book by Simron Jit Singh, researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria. Singh defended a dissertation related to the Nicobar Islands, at the Division of Human Ecology, Lund University, in December 2003, Since the Tsunami struck the Nicobar Islands on 26 December 2004, Simron Jit Singh has devoted his time to relief assistance work in the islands, and also involved in efforts to preserve the Nicobarese culture, partly destroyed by the tsunami, for the future.
The new book, written along with the journalist Oliver Lehmann, documents life on the 19 islands in the Indian Ocean, and is a volume rich in photographs of daily rituals, festivals and religious ceremonies. More information on the book, published by Czernin Verlag in Vienna, 2005.
Simron Jit Singh is also working with the Nicobarese collections at Vienna's Museum of Ethnology, where relics brought to Vienna by Austrian explorers in the 19th Century, depict a world now lost. Recently Singh organized a trip for Nicobarese tribal leaders to Vienna. Read an article by Gerald Traufetter published in Der Spiegel Online on 12 October 2005. The article is called ”A Tsunami-Devastated Tribe Finds a Cultural Noah's Ark in Vienna”
• Equity and Development theme for World Development Report 2006
The World Development Report 2006, published by the World Bank, was released on 20 September 2005. The 2006 Report has the theme ”Equity and Development”, and presents evidence on the inequality of opportunity, within and across countries, and illustrates the mechanisms through which it impairs development. The Report advocates taking explicit account of equity in determining development priorities: public action should aim to expand the opportunities of those who, in the absence of policy interventions, have the least resources, voice, and capabilities. More information (and possibility to download the full report).
• Panels for 19th ECMSAS conference soon to be announced
The 19th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS) will be held 27–30 June 2006 in Leiden, the Netherlands. The Dept. of South Asian Studies at Leiden University will host the conference with organisational assistance from the International Institute of Asian Studies, IIAS, also based in Leiden. Professor D.H.A. Kolff will act as convenor. All panel proposals received for the 19th ECMSAS have now been reviewed by the Academic Committee of the ECMSAS 2006 Conference and the panel organizers will be informed on the status of their panel before 1 October 2005.
Educational News
• South Asian participants to Lund University course on Conservation and Management of Historic Buildings
For the second year Lund Universiy organises a postgraduate International training course on ”Conservation and Management of Historic Buildings”. The course started in September 2005, as a collaboration project betweeen the Dept. of Housing Development and Management and the Dept. of Architectural Conservation and Restoration, Lund University. The course has been initiated and financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and will run every year at least for a period of five years. Professionals working in Latin America and Asia are participating. The first three-weeks period of the training is carried out in Sweden (26 September–14 october), followed by a continuation course in either Latin America or Asia (Cambodia) for two weeks in March/April 2006. No less than nine of the participants are coming from South Asian countries, two from Bhutan (Karma Gelay and Karma Tshering), two from Nepal (Ram Govinda Shrestha and Rupa Dongol), two from India (Unmesh Kirtikar; and Ujjwala S Khot), two from Sri Lanka (one of them Shanthini Balasubramaniam from the University of Moratuwa), and one from Bangladesh (Sazzad Hossain). (Seven of them appear on Lars Eklund’s photo to the right). More information on the course.
Conferences and courses
• 10th AWID International Forum held in Bangkok
The International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development arranges its 10th AWID International Forum to debate the urgent question ”How does change happen?”, in Bangkok, Thailand, 27–30 October 2005. The AWID Forum brings together women’s rights leaders and activists from around the world every three years to strategize, network, celebrate, and learn in a highly charged atmosphere that fosters deep discussions and sustained personal and professional growth. Around 2 000 women’s rights leaders and activists from all over the world are expected to come to Bangkok.
• New Delhi conference on Women, Work and Health
The Fourth International Congress on Women, Work & Health (WWH) is arranged in New Delhi, India, 27–30 November 2005. The conference is organised by the Indian Society For Working Life in collaboration with the Swedish National Institute for Working Life (Arbetslivsinstitutet). Previous WWH conferences have been held in Barcelona 1996, Rio de Janeiro 1999 and in Stockholm 2002. Keynote speakers representing both academia and practitioners will initiate debate and open-ended, thought provoking discussions on the issues which form the main themes of the Congress, and for the first time short films/video sessions have been initiated. More information.
Important lectures and workshops
• Olle Qvarnström lectures at Öresund Network meeting in Lund
ØRNAST, the Øresund Network of Asian Studies, invites students and scholars from both sides of Öresund for a social gathering in Lund, on Wednesday 26 October 2005, 18–21. The programme includes a lecture by the Professor to be installed (on Friday 21 Oct) Olle Qvarnström (photo to the left) on ”From Hampton Roads to Lundagård. Lund University Research on Indic religions”, and a musical performance by Bubu Munshi Eklund, singing Rabindrasangeet, the musical treasure of the Indian/Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. More information.
• Geeta Kumana lectures on lesbianism in India
Geeta Kumana, chairperson of Aanchal Trust in Mumbai, India, will lecture on ”Proud Indian Lesbian” in Göteborg on Thursday 27 October 2005, 18.30. Kumana, one of extremely few open indian lesbians (on a photo by Mário Firmino to the right), will deliver a talk based on hers and others experiences on what the situation is like when you are working as a lesbian activist in a very male chauvinistic society, how the different living conditions for women and men affects the LGBT movement, on female infanticide and more. The lecture will be held at Kvinnofolkhögskolan in Göteborg, Första Långgatan 28 (close to Masthuggstorget). For more information, contact Johanna Larsson.
New and updated items on SASNET web site
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 D, S-223 63 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
