SASNET

The past year (2009) has been a turbulent time for SASNET, with many wonderful events, but also some problems. The network has grown tremendously. Our web site has developed in a large scale, and our newsletters reach 2,000 recipients.
The conference for young Nordic scholars working on South Asia related projects held at Falsterbo in August became a success, and we have also organised a lrage number of other conferences and seminars on important issues. SASNET’s networking activities within Sweden consisted of visits to the universities of Jönköping, Växjö, Skövde, Västerås, and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. We have also been strongly involved in networking with the South Asian diplomatic representatives in Scandinavia. Our networking/planning grants were distributed to five new research projects, and financial support was also given to three guest lecture programmes and two South Asia-related interdisciplinary research workshops.
However, in addition to these activities, we have had to spend a great deal of time seeking new funding to replace the subsidy that Sida/SAREC has generously provided for the ten-year period that ended December 31, 2009. But all efforts to resolve this problem have failed. However, Lund University has promised to continue their underwriting, which at present comprises about one-third of our budget, and we are in the process of negotiating with the University for additional funds. Their support will make it possible for us to keep our doors open after December 2009. Furthermore, Lund University has expressed its firm commitment to maintain SASNET’s extensive web site, its databases and its newsletters, whatever other changes in directions that may come.
Nevertheless, due to the precarious current situation, with SASNET no longer receiving Swedish government funding and other Swedish universities unwilling to co-fund SASNET with membership fees (we had proposed that each university contribute SEK 50,000 a year – equivalent to EUR 5,000), the situation for SASNET as such is very unclear.
Read a full report on the 2009 activities, and our efforts to secure continued funding in our Christmas letter 2009.

On Saturday 19 December 2009, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, visited Lund University to hold a public lecture on ”Climate Change in Bangladesh – Facing the Challenges”. Sheikh Hasina was invited to visit Lund by SASNET and the Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University (UPF), and was hosted by Lund University Vice Chancellor Per Eriksson. A large delegation of ministers and around 20 members of the Bangladeshi parliament (who have attended the COP 15 climate conference in Copenhagen) accompanied the Prime Minister from Copenhagen during this high-security visit to Lund. The interest from Lund University students and researchers, as well as from the local Bangladeshi community was overwhelming. The lecture hall was crowded, and the event was documented by a couple of Bangladeshi TV company crews. More information.
See Lars Eklund’s photos from Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Lund.

Martha Garrett to the left, with SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg.

• Dr. Martha Garrett from International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, visited SASNET’s root node office in Lund on Thursday 28 January 2010. INFORM (International Network for Online Resources & Materials) is a Swedish-based networking programme that provides onsite information training in low-income countries (more information). Since INFORM’s next major activity will be a regional programme in Asia, Dr. Garrett extended an invitation to SASNET to become a partner in this programme. Health professionals working on reproductive health and maternal-and-child health in 10-12 Asian countries, mostly in south Asia, will receive intensive training about where to find free, high-quality materials for teaching, clinical practice and policy formulation. After the training, they will carry out their own information projects and also exchange information through an online forum.

On Monday 30 November 2009, SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg held a crucial meeting to discuss chances of securing future funding for SASNET with officials at the Swedish Ministry of Education in Stockholm. Anna was accompanied by Dr. Ann-Katrin Bäcklund, Dean of the Faculty for Social Sciences, Lund University, and Dr. Camilla Orjuela (PADRIGU), School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg (and a member of SASNET’s board). They met with Katarina Bjelke and Mattias Jennerholm from the Division of Research Policy (forskningspolitiska enheten) within the Ministry of Education.
The background is that SASNET after 10 years in existence loses its main funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, from 1 January 2010. Sida has so far contributed with two thirds of SASNET’s yearly budget of SEK 2.4 m, whereas the rest has come from Lund University. Lund University will continue with its part-funding in 2010, but is not willing to take over the full responsibility to pay for SASNET’s national networking activities. Other Swedish universities have been approached to find out their willingness to contribute financially to SASNET on a membership basis, but the response has been negative. We have also during the past year explored possibilities to secure alternate forms of grants from Sida and other funding agencies, but without any success. To a large extent, this is due to the truly multidisciplinary character of SASNET, that makes the network fall out of the framework for most funding agency programmes.
The meeting at the Ministry of Education was organised with an intent to discuss whether the Swedish government would be willing to set aside some basic funding for SASNET, in order to continue the networking activities on a national basis. However, no such promises were given. The argument given is that the users of the network, i e the Swedish universities, should pay for it themselves, and besides the Ministry could not earmark funding for national activities at one specific Swedish university.
The consequences may be that SASNET faces an acute risk that we have to close down our national activities from 1 January 2010.

Kumudu Wijewardena and Mohsin Saeed Khan, two members of SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group visited Lund on Tuesday 24 November 2009. The purpose was to have informal discussions with Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund about the future direction of SASNET from 2010.
Both Kumudu and Mohsin have spent the recent months in Sweden. Professor Wijewardena from the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka, has been involved in a long-standing collaborative research programme on ”Health and Social Care for the Socially Marginalized People” with the Division of International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) at the Dept. of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University. This programme is now near its completion. More information.
Mohsin Saeed Khan is a Health Specialist from Islamabad, Pakistan, but also PhD Candidate in a sandwich programme with the Division of Global health (IHCAR) at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. His doctoral thesis project deals with ”HIV and STI infections among Female Sex Workers in Lahore, Pakistan”, and is in its final stage. More information.

In May 2010, SASNET plans for a one and a half day conference at Lund University, on the constitution-making process in Nepal. The conference will be jointly organised by SASNET and the Institute for Security& Development Policy (ISDP) in Stockholm. As a preparation, SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg, and SASNET intern Nihat Ulusoy, visited ISDP on 30 November 2009. They met with the ISDPMs director Niklas Swanström, and its deputy director Robert Nilsson. The 2010 conference will not only discuss the constitution-making process in Nepal, but also support the Nepalese in their task by exchanging new ideas and brain storming. The background is the fact that the Constituent Assembly was endowed with drafting a new permanent constitution after the 10 April 2008 elections in Nepal. The deadline for this work is now approaching. Participants for the forum will be invited from four Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Another 4-5 researchers from Nepal will be invited, as well as the Nepalese Ambassador to Scandinavia. More details will be presented later.

SASNET also plans to organise another Nordic multidisciplinary three-day conference on South Asian Studies for young scholars in August 2010. This will be a follow-up to the successful conference on the same topic that SASNET arranged in Falsterbo in August 2009 (full information about this conference).
The 2010 conference will again be held at Falsterbo conference retreat (Falsterbo kursgård) in Höllviken, south of Malmö, on 18–20 August. The aim is to gather master students, doctoral students, and young post-docs in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) who focus on South Asia in their studies or research. The conference will provide an opportunity for young scholars from all disciplines to present their future and ongoing research projects, establish contacts with colleagues in the Nordic countries, and discuss the challenges and opportunities of career planning and conducting research in South Asian Studies.
The keynote speaker will be Prof. Emeritus Graham Chapman (photo) from the Dept. of Geography, Lancaster University, UK. Other main speakers will be Mr. Teddy Primack, Director of Academic Documents Associates, USA; Associate Professor Jan Vang, Dept. of Production, Aalborg University, Denmark; and Dr. Anna Godhe, Dept. of Marine Ecology, University of Gothenburg.
Funding has been provided by the Grace and Philip Sandblom Foundation. More details will follow. The planning for the conference is made by a working group consisting of young scholars, led by SASNET’s intern, Mr. Nihat Ulusoy, a final year student of International Relations and Ethnic Relations at Malmö University.

From its inception in January 2001, SASNET’s web site has grown enormously. On the 26th November 2009, the web site consisted of a little more than 1,600 pages, and with 2,773 photos and images. Furthermore, the statistics continuosly provided to us by the web tracking company StatCounter show that the number of visitors to SASNET is steadily growing. In 2007 the number was 31,581 unique visitors, in 2008 it grew to 37,763, and for 2009 the number will most probably touch 40,000.
Interestingly, currently most visitors come from India, Sweden and United States in this specific order, and the most popular page to visit is the one where we present South Asia related conferences all over the world. The general Research News and Nordic Researcher pages are also very popular, as well as the page where we present 250 Swedish university departments, and the one providing links to 500 South Asian research institutions worldwide, and finally the Newsletters produced by SASNET’s webmaster, Mr. Lars Eklund.
See some statistics from November 26th (as a pdf-file).

On Thursday 22 October 2009, SASNET invited Lund University Masters students, Ph.D. candidates and senior researchers interested in studies and research related to South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives) to an open meeting. Nearly 50 people turned up for the meeting that was intended to increase the interest in pursuing South Asia related education and research at Lund University. Eminent researchers involved in South Asia related projects, including Prof. Baboo Nair, Dept. of Applied Nutrition, Prof. Staffan Lindberg, Dept. of Sociology, Prof. Rajni Hatti Kaul, Dept. of Biotechnology, and Dr. Catarina Kinnvall, Dept. of Political Science, gave presentations on their work. Dr. Vipin Negi, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, and Dr. Gupinath Bhandari, Lund University Centre for Risk Assessment and Management (LUCRAM), also told about their experiences being scholarship holders through the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window Programme. After the meeting, the participants stayed on for snacks and refreshments. Venue for the meeting: Kårhuset, Hörsalen, John Ericssons väg 3, Lund. Read a report from the meeting (with photos).

SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund has written an article about the achievements that SASNET has been able to contribute with during its nine years of existence, in the 2009 edition of the glossy magazine India-Sweden in Focus, published in mid-August. This magazine has been produced by Krest Publications in New Delhi, India, on behalf of the Embassy of India in Sweden. Besides Lars’ article entitled ”SASNET builds up Indo-Swedish collaborations”, the magazine also features articles on other important Indo-Swedish collaboration initiatives in business, research and culture. Robin Sukhia writes about the Sweden India Business Council (SIBC); Göran Baurne writes about INSTEC – the Indo-Swedish Network for Cooperation on Technical Research and Education; and Anita Nair writes about the Indo-Swedish translation project Indiska Biblioteket (Indian Library). Read the article on SASNET in India-Sweden in Focus.

The Doctoral Student Union at Lund University has decided to appoint PhD candidate Elenor Lissel as member of SASNET's board, as a representative for students, especially PhD candidates. Ms. Lissel is working on her doctoral thesis within the field of Accounting and Tax Law at the Faculty of Law, Lund University. The title of the dissertation project is ”Developing Countries and Emergency Safeguard Measures in World Trade Law”. In 2007, she wrote a Masters thesis entitled ”Conflicts between WTO Law and EC Law – A study on antidumping legislation and direct effect” (more information on this thesis).

The SASNET board met in Lund on Tuesday 22 September 2009. The main issue to discuss was the future of SASNET after 31 December 2009, when the current funding period ends. Several strategies are now being pursued in order to secure additional funding to compensate for the loss of basic funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. Since SASNET started in 2001, Sida has provided SASNET with 2/3 of its budget and Lund University with 1/3. Read the Minutes from the meeting.
SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg speaks about the current financial situation in an interview made by the journalist Britta Collberg in Lund University’s staff magazine LUM, No. 7/2009. Read the interview entitled ”Varför hotas Sydasien-nätverket?”

30 applications were received for the 2009 round of SASNET Planning Grants. On Tuesday 22 September 2009 the SASNET board approved the decisions made earlier by an independent Reference group (consisting of three eminent Nordic South Asia scholars). Networking/planning grants are now given to five new research projects. The Reference Group has also decided to give financial support to three guest lecture programmes (for inviting a guest lecturer from South Asia to visit more than one Swedish university), and two South Asia related interdisciplinary research workshops (to be held in Sweden or in South Asia). The total amount distributed was SEK 525 000.
The following researchers were awarded SASNET planning grants in order to network for new research projects:
• Pernille Gooch, Dept. of Human Ecology, Lund University (photo): ”Water, Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods: Assessing Socio-economic Vulnerability and Potential Adaptive Strategies in Sikkim, India.” SEK 75 000.
• Andreas Mårtensson, Malaria Research Unit, Dept. of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm: ”Molecular characterization of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Madhya Pradesh, India – implications for rational use of anti-malarial drugs”. SEK 50 000.
• Adam Pain, Dept. of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala: ”Development of a Rural Development Network between the College of Natural Resources (CNR), Royal University of Bhutan, and the Division of Rural Development, SLU, Uppsala”. SEK 70 000.
• Leslie Paul and Sadhna Alström (photo), Dept. of Forest Mycology and Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala: ”Development of a collaborative research project between Indian and Swedish researchers towards sustainable production of Cocos nucifera”. SEK 70 000.
• Joyanto Routh, Dept. of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University: ”High-resolution Holocene paleoclimate records in glacial lakes from the northeastern Himalayas in Bhutan”. SEK 75 000.
The following researchers were awarded SASNET planning grants in order to organise an interdisciplinary workshop:
• Willmar Sauter, Dept. of Musicology and Performance Studies, Stockholm University: ”Interdisciplinary Approaches to Marginalised Performance Practices in India”. SEK 75 000
• Wimal Ubhayasekera, MAX-Lab, Lund University: ”Introduction to protein structures and homology modeling.” SEK 50 000
The following researchers were awarded SASNET Guest Lecture Programme grants:
• Sara Eriksén, School of Computing, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Ronneby: ”Invitation of Aarti Kawlra, Principal Project Officer, Indo-UK Consortium on Advanced Communication Technology, IC&SR Project, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Channai, India.” SEK 20 000
• Anders Hydén, Dept. of Caring Sciences and Social Work, Gävle University: ”Invitation of Prabhavati N Tirmare (photo), College of Social Work, Mumbai University, India.” SEK 20 000
• Margareta Petersson, School of Humanities, Växjö University: ”Invitation of Somdatta Mandal, Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan, India.” SEK 20 000

Since SASNET was established in 2001, a total number of 119 networking grants have been distributed to Swedish researchers working on South Asia related projects within all fields – from technology and natural sciences to humanities, social sciences and educational sciences. The researchers who have benefited from the grants belong to 20 different Swedish universities and university colleges. Out of the 119 grants awarded so far, 72 refer to networking grants to plan for new research projects/programmes; 20 to grants in order to develop new educational projects/programmes; 10 to organise interdisciplinary workshops; and 17 to the guest lecture programme.
In the evaluation of SASNET that was carried out in 2005 (go for the evaluation report), it was shown that 70 p.c. of the projects that had been given SASNET planning grants till 2004 had later been given substantial funding from other sources, such as Sida/SAREC, Swedish Research Council, Bank of Sweden Tercentennary Fund, and the European Commission. Also thereafter, SASNET’s networking grants have continued to play an important role setting new South Asia related projects/programmes in motion. Go for the complete list of SASNET planning grants distributed 2001–2009.

Some of the participants at the KTH meeting: Prof. Göran Baurne, KTH, Dr. Muthi Venkatasamy Rangasami, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Kalyani University, and Prof. Ashok G Ghosh, Anurag Narayan College.

On Monday 21 September 2009, SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund participated in the first consortium meeting for the new Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) mobility programme entitled ”EURINDIA”, one of the four programme 13 lots devoted to mobility interaction between universities in Europe and India selected in 2009. This programme is administered by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm and involves another 9 universities in Europe and 8 universities in India, plus 3 associated partners. More information about EURINDIA.
The meeting was held at KTH in Stockholm, and Lars met with the programme coordinator, Ms. Alphonsa Lourdudoss, based at KTH, as well as representatives from the Indian partner universities. They include Anna University, Chennai; Anurag Narayan College, Gaya (affiliated to Patna University); Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee; National Law School of India University, Bangalore; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore; University of Kalyani, West Bengal; and University of Pune.

The much larger Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) mobility programme lot 15, devoted to interaction between universities in Europe and India, that was selected by the European Commission in 2008, is now fully running. This India lot consortium was formed by 12 universities in Europe, and 8 universities in India, and came into being after a hectic groundwork by SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg and deputy director Lars Eklund. The network is entirely based upon previous SASNET contacts in India as well as in Europe. The mobility lot is now coordinated by the Division of International Relations at Lund University, and has two other Nordic partner universities: Karolinska Institutet Medical University in Stockholm; and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. More information.
An impressive number of 53 Indian students, PhD candidates, post-docs and academic staff have arrived only to Lund University (to a large number of departments, including the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Division of Chemical Physics, Dept. of Biotechnology, and Lund University Centre for Risk Assessment and Management (LUCRAM). Two students, Muditkumar Gupta and Vidyasagar Jaiswal are seen on the photo along with Vasudha Garde, Pune University; Ashok Patil, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences; and Sidsel Hansson, Lund University. Read an article in Lund University magazine LUM No 7/09 on the successful implementation of the EMECW lot 15.
Another 20 Indian students, researchers and academic staff have come as scholarship holders to Karolinska Institutet.
A second Call for Mobility applications has been issued for this Indo-European mobility scheme coordinated by Lund University. However, it is no longer called Lot 15, but has changed name into Lot 13, and please note that this lot 13 is divided into four different programmes from 2009. 183 scholarships will be awarded for mobility starting in 2010 (with start dates between April 1 and September 1, 2010). The Call opened on 1 September 2009, and will close on 1 November. More information on the consortium web site.

The Mahatma Gandhi Book Collection (part of the Karl Reinhold Haellquist Memorial Collection) was formally inaugurated by the Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Balkrishna Shetty, on Thursday 10 September 2009. On behalf of the Indian government, the Ambassador also took the opportunity to donate to Lund University and SASNET another 120 volumes of Mahatma Gandhi literature, either works written by Gandhi himself or books focusing on him.
The function, including a puja ceremony by Ms. Bubu Munshi-Eklund, took place at Lund University’s Asia Library at Scheelevägen 15. A large number of Lund University professors and researchers, and also Indian students and guest researchers who have come to Lund University through the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window India lot 15, participated. Lund University was officially represented by the Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sven Strömqvist. The daily newspaper Sydsvenskan carried a report from the inauguration, and also Lund University magazine LUM in its issue No. 8/2009. See the newspaper reports. (as a pdf-file).
Ms. Inger Sondén Haellquist (photo) was the guest of honour since she is the person who in 2004 donated the extensive private book collection of her late husband, Karl Reinhold Haellquist, to Lund University. This collection, consisting of nearly 7 000 volumes of South Asia related literature, was selected by Lund University researchers Neelambar Hatti and Jan Magnusson, and has since been catalogued by SASNET. A small part of the collection, primarily the Mahatma Gandhi collection, is exhibited in the Asia Library. More information about the Karl Reinhold Haellquist Memorial Collection.
After the inauguration ceremony, and the presentation of the new book donation by the Indian Ambassador, a 45 minutes documentary on the life of Mahatma Gandhi was shown. The film, entitled ”Mahatma – A Great Soul of the 20th Century”, has been jointly produced by the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India; and the Gandhi Films Foundation.
Not only the book collection was inaugurated. Also SASNET’s web site on the Mahatma Gandhi collection (www.sasnet.lu.se/gandhi) was officially launched. The web site has been prepared for SASNET by the librarian Erik Svanström.

Balkrishna Shetty and David Arnold.

SASNET’s seminar on the Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Today’s Society became a major success. More than 120 people, Lund University professors, researchers and students but also many interested persons from outside the academic world, gathered for the seminar featuring David Arnold, Professor of Asian and Global History at the University of Warwick, UK, and the Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Balkrishna Shetty. The two-hour seminar was held on Thursday 10 September 2009, 19–21, at Lund University’s Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL-Centrum) and was moderated by SASNET’s Director, Dr. Anna Lindberg.
The Ambassador, Mr. Balkrishna Shetty, was the first speaker, and he gave a personal narrative on Mahatma Gandhi’s life, the important role he has played in history, and the basic values that he stands for, values that should still play an important role.
Prof. David Arnold came next. His presentation, entitled ”Gandhi: The Mahatma and the Machine”, differed in its specific focus on Mahatma Gandhi’s complicated relation to machines. Whereas Gandhi was well-known for his resentment against modern industrial inventions that robbed people of their employment, he was still very much dependent on the radio, microphones, and trains, in order to reach out to the masses with his message.
Full information about SASNET’s Gandhi seminar.

• A joint SASNET/UPF (Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University) seminar on ”Political Transitions affecting the Peace Process in Nepal” was held in Lund on Wednesday 23 September 2009, 19.30–21.00. Anjoo Sharan Upadhyaya, Professor of Political Science and Director, Centre for the Study of Nepal at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, India, participated in the seminar along with Mr. Vijaykant Lal Karna, Nepalese ambassador to Scandinavia (based in Denmark) who is also a political scientist by profession, having worked at Tribhuvan University for 20 years.
The audience consisted of more than 70 people, mostly Lund University students, but also visiting Nepalese students (see photo with the Ambassador and a gathering of these).
In her 35 years of teaching career at Banaras Hindu University, Prof. Anjoo Sharan Upadhyayay (photo) has been the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences; and served twice as the Head, Department of Political Science and also as the Director of Center for Rural Development. Outside of India, she has worked for example as Research Director at UNU/Ulster University INCORE (Institute of Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity), UK; as Fellow at London School of Economics & Politics (LSE), and as Scholar-in Residence at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars, Washington DC, USA. Professor Upadhyaya has published extensively both nationally and internationally on themes related to issues of self-determination, ethnicity, conflict, federalism, gender, development and peace. She has undertaken post-doctoral studies at LSE, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Brown University, USA. Currently she is engaged in a collaboration project with Karlstad University.
Dr. Leif Bjellin from the the Dept. of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, was the moderator for the seminar.
Venue: Café Athen, Akademiska Föreningen (AF), Sandgatan 2, Lund. More information.

• Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya from Benaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India, held a lecture at Lund University on ”Religious Peace Building in India” on Thursday 24 September, 10.15–12.00. The seminar was jointly organised by the Dept.of History of Religions, Lund University, and SASNET. Prof. Upadhyaya is Director at the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research at BHU. He holds a PhD of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Advance International Diploma(s) in Conflict Resolution from Uppsala University, Sweden. In Sweden, he has also served as a Visiting Professor at Karlstad University. During September 2009 he has been based at the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo. Venue: Room 438, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR), Allhelgona Kyrkogata 8, Lund. More information.

• The joint SASNET/UPF (Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University) seminar on ”Contemporary Pakistan: Islamism, Human Rights and Terrorism”, held in Lund on Wednesday 16 September 2009, drew an audience of more than 100 people. The speakers were Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed, working as Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore; and Dr. Rubya Mehdi, University of Copenhagen.
Prof. Ahmed is currently on leave from the Dept. of Political Science, Stockholm University. At ISAS, he is working on a research project ebtitled ”Is Pakistan a Garrison State?” The aim of the study is to generate a comprehensive analysis of the reasons why the military came to play the dominant role in Pakistani politics. He is also in the process of completing a major study based on first-hand accounts of the partition of the Punjab in 1947. Ishtiaq has taught and carried out research on issues of human rights, women's rights and minorities extensively in South Asian contexts in general and in Pakistan in particular. He has also written extensively on the politics of South Asia, especially Pakistan. He wrote a weekly column in the Pakistan English-language newspapers, The Daily Times and The News International during May 2002 and June 2007. Besides, he is on the editorial advisory board of Asian Ethnicity, Journal of Punjab Studies, IPRI Journal and PIPS Journal of Conflict and Peace Studies.
Rubya Mehdi (photo to the right) has a PhD in Law, and is a senior researcher at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. She is one of Denmark’s leading experts in Islamic law, and has conducted research in Denmark for 20 years. She is also a visiting professor with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, and she was involved in the Protection of Women Act 2006, which was passed to improve the situation of women in Pakistan. It also tried to make some changes in the Hudood ordinance which was very much discriminating against women in rape cases. Dr. Stig Toft Madsen, SASNET, was the moderator for the discussion. Venue: Café Athen, Akademiska Föreningen (AF), Sandgatan 2, Lund. More information.

Dr. Ruby Sain from the Dept. of Sociology, Jadavpur University, India, held an open lecture at Lund University on Wednesday 16 September 2009. The seminar was jointly organised by the School of Social Work at Lund university, Vårdalinstitutet and SASNET. Dr. Sain, who mostly works on health, illness, ageing, religion and research methodology issues, talked about “Depression – a social problem of the elderly population in India”. She is the founding editor of the Jadavpur University Journal of Sociology, and her forthcoming books are titled ”Contemporary Social Problems in India-Vol I” (ed.) and ”Folk Religion in Bengal”. Besides, Dr Sain is secretary of the International Forum for the Study of Society and Religion (IFFSR), a forum that links researchers and scholars from Jadavpur University, University of Gothenburg and the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies. She came to Sweden on a SASNET guest lecture programme grant, invited by the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, Gothenburg University. More information.

A joint SASNET/UPF (Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University) seminar on ”Contemporary Pakistan: Islamism, Human Rights and Terrorism” was held in Lund on Wednesday 16 September 2009. The speakers were Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed, working as Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore; and Dr. Rubya Mehdi, University of Copenhagen.
Ishtiaq Ahmed (photo to the left) is currently on leave from the Dept. of Political Science, Stockholm University. At ISAS, he is working on a research project entitled ”Is Pakistan a Garrison State?” The aim of the study is to generate a comprehensive analysis of the reasons why the military came to play the dominant role in Pakistani politics. He is also in the process of completing a major study based on first-hand accounts of the partition of the Punjab in 1947. Ishtiaq has taught and carried out research on issues of human rights, women's rights and minorities extensively in South Asian contexts in general and in Pakistan in particular. He has also written extensively on the politics of South Asia, especially Pakistan. He wrote a weekly column in the Pakistan English-language newspapers, The Daily Times and The News International during May 2002 and June 2007. Besides, he is on the editorial advisory board of Asian Ethnicity, Journal of Punjab Studies, IPRI Journal and PIPS Journal of Conflict and Peace Studies.
Rubya Mehdi (photo to the left) has a PhD in Law, and is a senior researcher at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. She is one of Denmark’s leading experts in Islamic law, and has conducted research in Denmark for 20 years. She is also a visiting professor with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, and she was involved in the Protection of women Act 2006, which was passed to improve the situation of women in Pakistan. It also tried to make some changes in the Hudood ordinance which was very much discriminating against women in rape cases.
Dr. Stig Toft Madsen, SASNET, will be the moderator for the discussion. Venue: Café Athen, Akademiska Föreningen (AF), Sandgatan 2, Lund. More information.

Embassy of India: Madhumita Ghosh, Balkrishna Shetty and Anna Lindberg.

Embassy of Pakistan: Nadeem Riyaz, Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund.

Embassy of Bangladesh: Anna Lindberg, Muhammad Azizul Haque and Lars Eklund.

Embassy of Nepal: Lars Eklund, Vijaykant Lal Karna and Anna Lindberg.

On 3–4 August 2009, SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg and deputy director Lars Eklund went to Stockholm to meet the Ambassadors of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as part of ongoing discussions about the future of SASNET and possibilities of cooperation between South Asian institutions.
At the Embassy of India they were received by the Ambassador Mr. Balkrishna Shetty, and the First Secretary Mrs. Madhumita Bhagat; at the Embassy of Pakistan they were received by the new Ambassador Mr. Nadeem Riyaz; and at the Embassy of Bangladesh they were received by outgoing Ambassador Mr. Muhammad Azizul Haque. Fruitful discussions were held at all the three embassies.

On Monday 31 August 2009, Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund went to Hellerup north of Copenhagen, to meet the Ambassador of Nepal to Scandinavia, Mr, Vijaykant Lal Karna.
Visits are also planned to soon meet both the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Sweden in Stockholm, and the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Scandinavia in Oslo.

An internal evaluation of SASNET’s activities during the period 2005–2009 has been carried out. SASNET was founded in 2001 and has since its inception been funded jointly by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and Lund University. The latter contributes roughly one-third of its annual budget of approximately SEK 2.6 million. This funding remains in effect until the end of 2009.
Unfortunately, Sida will most probably not be able to fund SASNET after that date for reasons that are reportedly bureaucratic or political, and not in any way related to the quality of SASNET’s work. An external evaluation conducted in 2005 by Sida concluded that SASNET has been highly successful (see this evaluation report written by Carla Risseeuw, Ghanshyam Shah and Lennart Wohlgemuth). Recently, a brief internal evaluation of SASNET was conducted by Dr. Stig Toft-Madsen, who worked as assistant director of SASNET during the period December 2008 to June 2009. At present, staff at SASNET are actively seeking underwriting to keep the organisation viable for the foreseeable future. Read the 2009 internal evaluation review report of SASNET activities.

Do not miss out on Lars Eklund’s new blog sasnettoday.blogspot.com. This is a blog that may focus on the day-to-day activities of Lars, working as deputy director/webmaster with the Swedish South Asian Studies Network since 2001. However, it may just as well deal with Lars’ many extramural South Asia/India related activities in Sweden and elsewhere. He used to be editor for the SYDASIEN magazine for a period of 25 years, has travelled extensively in all the South Asian countries from 1972 and onwards, and lives with his Indian wife Bubu. Besides he is well acquainted with South Asian history and religion, culture and music. Go for Lars Eklund’s SASNETTODAY blog.

SASNET engaged Mr. Geoffrey Gardella on a short-term assignment during the summer 2009 to assist the webmaster, Lars Eklund, to improve the graphic design on important SASNET web pages. Geoffrey is both a geographic and academic wanderer. With a master's degree in German from University of California Berkeley, he has also studied Hindi in Mussoorie and Saami at Umeå University. In between academic careers, he has worked in Silicon Valley. He is now a Master's degree student within the South Asia track at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University. His area of focus is the intersection of food, culture and identity in India. He participated in the June 2009 Asian Dynamics Initiative conference at the University of Copenhagen, where he presented a paper entitled ”Udupi Hotels: Entrepreneurship, Reform and Revival”, written together with Stig Toft-Madsen from SASNET.

SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund visited the University of Skövde on 28 May 2009. He was invited to participate in the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the universities of Skövde and Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The MoU focuses on student exchange and research collaboration within Biomedicine, Bioinformatics, Ecology, Molecular Biology, Physiology, and Systematic Biology. The initiative comes from Dr. Abul Mandal and his colleagues at the School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde. SASNET has been instrumental in promoting the Skövde–Rajshahi collaboration by providing a planning grant for a project on ”Development of new varieties of crops for avoiding loss of harvest caused by climatic instability in Bangladesh” in 2008 (more information). To further celebrate the visit to Skövde by a delegation from the University of Rajshahi, a “Bengali Evening” was held at 20.15 with a cultural programme that included a Bharata Natyam performance by Ms. Shivapriya Bagchi from Kolkata, India. More information.

On Thursday 14 May 2009, SASNET organised a visit to Lund and Malmö by the new Ambassador of India to Sweden, H.E. Mr. Balkrishna Shetty. During his stay in Lund he had discussions with SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg and deputy director Lars Eklund. He also met with the University Director Dr. Marianne Granfelt and participated in a seminar with researchers, teachers, students, and international coordinators involved in India related projects at Lund University. Mr. Shetty was accompanied by Mrs. Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat, First Secretary (Commercial, Consular, Culture), Embassy of India. The Ambassador listened to a few selected presentations: Dr. Sidsel Hansson presented the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window lot 15 programme, coordinated by Lund University; Prof. Baboo Nair, Dept. of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, informed about the SASNET Fermented Foods project; and Prof. Olle Qvarnström presented the Division of Indic Religions at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University. More information about the seminar.
SASNET also co-hosted an India seminar in co-operation with SIBC (Sweden-India Business Council) and Ideon Research park, where the Ambassador was the key speaker. With his wide experiences he gave an interesting presentation. In recent years he has been posted at the Embassy of India in Paris, as Minister (Economic), dealing with all bilateral economic matters and relations with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He has also been associated with the establishment of TEAM–9 (Techno-Economic Cooperation for Africa–India Movement), a regional economic cooperation mechanism between India and eight West African countries. From September 2005 to January 2009, he was Ambassador of India to Bahrain. Besides the speech by the Ambassador, the seminar also included a presentation by Prof. Baboo Nair, who talked about ”Doing Business in India”. SASNET’s Director, Dr. Anna Lindberg, was the moderator. More information (as a pdf-file).

During his stay in Lund and Malmö, the Ambassador also visited the Mayor of Lund, Ms Annica Annerby Jansson, visited Lund University’s Faculty of Engineering, and especially its Department of Electrical and Information Technology. In the evening Mr. Shetty went to Malmö, first to visit the Bollywood cinema hall in Limhamn, and then to host a reception at Hipp for 100 invited guests, mostly from the Indian community in Malmö/Lund, but also a delegation from Malmö University, and people working on India related projects within art, music, and theatre (photo from reception).
Read the full programme for the Ambassador’s visit to Lund on May 14, 2009, and see photos.

The Tabla player Subrata Manna, the classical singer Sudokshina Chatterjee Manna, and the Kathak dancer Sohini Debnath (photo), all from Kolkata, India, participated in an well-attended academic seminar on intercultural education research in Malmö on Tuesday 26 May 2009, 13.30–16.00. They gave a presentation titled ”Application of Classical Indian Music in World Music of today”. The artists visited Scandinavia as part of a European tour (with concerts in Copenhagen on May 26th and in Lund on May 27th, more information). The Malmö seminar was jointly organised by Lund University Intercultural Education Research Forum (since November 2008 coordinated by the International Art and Cultural Education Competency Centre, KIKK, at Lund University’s Academy of Music in Malmö), and SASNET. Besides the three Indian artists, who discussed Indian forms of music and dance and show their skills, two presentations of ongoing research projects at Lund University were given. Dr. Bosse Bergstedt, Dept. of Education talked about ”The Genuine Voice – on a Prelinguistic Fellowship”; and Senior Lecturer Eva Sæther, Dept. of Music Education Research talked about ”To play oneself Persian or Swedish – or?”. Venue: Musikhögskolan i Malmö, Ystadvägen 25. More information (as a pdf-file).

SASNET has sponsored a photographic project set up by second-year students from Lund University’s Masters programme in Development and Management (LUMID) 2007–09 batch. During the period 25 May – 4 June 2009, they exhibit photos from their fieldworks in Asian and African countries. The exhibition is part of the LFA (LUMID Fotographic Art) Project, as it is called. Opening hours: Monday–Saturday 14.00 – 19.00, with a festive vernissage that was held on Friday 29 May 2009. Anna Lindberg, Lars Eklund and Stig Toft Madsen from SASNET participated in the event. Venue: Wickmanska gården, Bredgatan 2 in central Lund (close to the City Library). More information.

Professor G.N. Tiwari from the Centre for Energy Studies at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi visited SASNET’s root node office in Lund on Tuesday 19 May 2009. He was accompanied by Professor Krister Håkansson, Dept. of Psychology, Växjö University, with whom Prof. Tiwari is involved in a collaboration project to organise research and a conference on hybrid photovoltaic-thermal technology (H-PV/T), to be held in New Delhi. The conference, entitled ”Implementation strategies for the transfer of hybrid photovoltaic-thermal technology (H-PV/T) from research to lab to field” should have been held already in March 2009, but due to the Indian elections it was postponed, and new dates will be in the end of August. Prof. Tiwari is a leading expert in the research on how solar energy can be introduced in Indian villages without electricity. In 2007 he organised the 3rd International Conference on Solar Radiation and Day Lighting, ”SOLARIS 2007” at IIT Delhi. Then he established contact with Dr. Om Prakash at the School of Technology and Design, Växjö University, and originally they were supposed to plan for the new conference. But due to illness, Dr. Prakash had to give up the project, and he gave it over to Christer Håkansson. Being a psychologist, Håkansson is interested to launch a broader interdisciplinary research project on issues widely connected to village development and the introduction of solar energy in India. More information.

PhD candidate Malin Jordahl, Division of International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Uppsala University, visited SASNET’s root node office in Lund on Friday 22 May 2009, and had a meeting with the Director Anna Lindberg. It was a follow-up meeting of a discussion that took place in February 2009 at the SASNET conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka (more information). Malin and Anna now discussed the possibility of creating a sub-network within SASNET on the topic for the Colombo workshop, viz., Migration, Gender, and Health. PhD candidate Malin Gregersen, Dept. of History, Lund University, and Dr. Kristina Myrvold, Dept. of History of Religions, Lund University, participated in the meeting as well. Malin Gregersen is monitoring the SASNET Student Forum and Kristina Myrvold is a leading member of the committee organising SASNET’s coming conference for Young Scholars to be held in Falsterbo in August 2009 (more information).

Tabish Khair flanked by Claes-Göran Holmberg, Dept. of Comparative Literature, and Anna Lindberg, SASNET.

Dr. Tabish Khair from the Dept. of English, University of Aarhus, Denmark, held a SASNET lecture in Lund on ”The Gothic and Postcolonialism: Alterity, Difference and Narration” on Monday 18 May 2009, 13.15–15.00. The seminar was co-organised by the Dept. of Comparative Literature, Lund University. Born and educated mostly in Gaya, India, Tabish Khair is the author of various books. His honours and prizes include the All India Poetry Prize (awarded by the Poetry Society and the British Council). Academic papers, reviews, essays, fiction and poems by Khair have appeared in Indian, British, Danish, American, German, Italian, South African, Chinese and other publications. Khair has just finished a study, entitled ”The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness”, which will be published in USA and UK by Palgrave (Macmillan) in August 2009. Venue for the Lund seminar: Room L 201, Lund University’s Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL-Centrum), Helgonabacken 14, Lund. More information.

Prof. Dipak Malik, Director of the Gandhian Institute in Varanasi, India, held an open SASNET lecture at Lund University on ”Riots and Elections in India” on Monday 11 May 2009. Prof. Malik, also working at the Dept. of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, discussed the factors deciding the ongoing elections for the Indian parliament, Lok Sabha (results to be announced on May 16th), and the profile of Indian communal riots, now and in the past. The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Research group on Development and Environment at the Dept. of Sociology, Lund University, being part of a Swedish guest lecture tour that also brings him to the universities of Gothenburg and Karlstad (funded by a SASNET grant). Venue: Conference room 1 (335), Dept.of Sociology, Lund University, Paradisgatan 5 (house G). More information.

All Administrative reports regarding SASNET’s work and activities from the first planning process in 1999 till today are available at SASNET’s web site, see below. The latest report to be added is the Administrative report no. 9, for the period 1 January – 31 december 2008. Go for the Work Report.

The project partners, from left to right Dr. Ebbe Nordlander, Professor Shariff Enamur Kabir and Professor Pradeep Mathur.

The Vice Chancellor from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh, Prof. Shariff Enamur Kabir, visited SASNET’s root node office in Lund on Wednesday 25 March 2009. He was accompanied by Professor Pradeep Mathur from the Dept. of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai, and Dr. Ebbe Nordlander, Dept. of Chemical Physics, Lund University. The three researchers are involved in a joint reserach project on ”Modelling of hydrodesulfurization reactions and development of new molecular hydrodesulfurization catalyst” that received a SASNET planning grant in 2008, the planning of which was carried out during the stay in Lund. They also met with Lund University’s Pro vice-chancellor Eva Åkesson to discuss a possible Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Lund University and Jahangirnagar University.

Dr. Daya Kishan Thussu from the University of Westminster, UK, was invited by SASNET to lecture at a Focus Asia conference on ”Media Cultures and Politics in Asia and Beyond” that was held at Lund University 26–27 February 2009. Focus Asia is a yearly event organised by the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE) at Lund University, and this 10th Focus Asia event brings together leading media scholars who discussed media in Asia and beyond. Several of the lectures at the Focus Asia conference addressed the relationship between media, democracy and the public sphere in different national and regional contexts. Dr. Thussu talked about ”Infotainment – Indian Style: Changing Contours of TV News in the World’s Largest Democracy” on Thursday 26 February, 16.00–17.30. Read the full programme for the Focus Asia February 2009 (as a pdf-file).

Two smart quizz winning Indian students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai, Rahul Singh (from Jamshedpur) and Haripriya Mukundarajan (from Bangalore), visited SASNET and Lund University on Monday 23 February 2009. They were the winners of a Nobel prize quizz competition organised by the Embassy of Sweden in India in October 2008. The winners’ prize was an all-expenses paid, weeklong trip to Sweden where they would get an opportunity to visit Swedish universities and major technology companies in Lund, Göteborg, Linköping, Sandviken and Stockholm. SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund organised their visit to Lund University, that included visiting the Nanoscience laboratory at the Dept. of Physics (photo above). More information.

Professor Ravinder Kaur from the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi held a SASNET lecture at Lund University on Wednesday 11 March, 14.15–16. Prof. Kaur talked about ”Strangers as Spouses: Marriage Implications of India’s Skewed sex Ratio”, focusing on the continuing gender imbalance and the recent steep declines in the child sex ratio in India. The presentation is based on extensive fieldwork consisting of interviews with cross-region couples in the state of Haryana with additional evidence from Uttar Pradesh. Some fieldwork-based evidence has also been obtained from the bride-sending states of West Bengal and Kerala. An interesting finding and a hopeful sign is the positive sex ratio of the offspring of such marriages. The lecture was organised in collaboration with Lund University’s Dept. of Economic History, and the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE). Venue: Conference room, Dept. of Economic History, Scheelevägen 15 B, 1st floor, Lund. More information (as a pdf-file).

• Dr. Walter Andersen, Associate Director of the South Asia Studies Program at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., USA held a joint SASNET/UPF (Lund University Association of Foreign Affairs) lecture in Lund on Monday 16 March 2009, at 19.30. Dr. Andersen, who has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago, lectured on ”Islamic militancy in India: A domestic issue with significant foreign policy implications” He has recently retired as chief of the U.S. State Department's South Asia Division in the Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia. Venue for the seminar: Café Athen, Sandgatan 2, Lund. More information about Dr. Andersen.

SASNET’s searchable database for Swedish and Nordic researchers involved in any kind of South Asia related research has been updated. The register, created in 2001 has been dormant for a long time but has now been reshuffled, more visibly presented, and with full interactivity for the users. The researchers already represented in the database are obliged to log in and do necessary changes. Log-in information has been sent by e-mail to them. Those Swedish and Nordic researchers not yet represented are kindly invited to join the register and enter information about current South Asia related research in the database. Please go to the entrance page www.sasnet.lu.se/updResearchers.php. As an old user click on the "update" button, as a new user click on the ”new user” button. Please note that your e-mail address will become your user name for future log-in.
To search for individual researchers in the database, please go to www.sasnet.lu.se/registerf.html.
Please note that the database/register currently is only open for Swedish and Nordic researchers.

Read News From Previous Years

 

What is SASNET?/Platform

Our organisation
Office, staff and board members

South Asian Reference Group

SASNET Planning grants

How to find the SASNET root node office in Lund

Magazines/Library
at SASNET’s root node office

Directions for SASNET
set up by Lund University

Principles for SASNET
set up in October 2000

Project plan 2001–2005 Background history of SASNET

SASNET workshop on Global Networking in Lund,
27–28 August 2001

External evaluation report 2005
by Prof. Carla Risseeuw, Prof. Ghanshyam Shah and Director Lennart Wohlgemuth

SASNET’s Self Evaluation
for the period 2000–2004

2009 internal evaluation review report of SASNET
by Dr. Stig Toft Madsen

The inspiration came from the artist Paul Klee, from whom we borrowed the wheel.
Click on his Principles for
the Bauhaus school from 1922 (above)
for enlargenment of the original sketch.

SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg and deputy director Lars Eklund travelled in Northern and Western/ Southwestern India during the period 1–30 November 2007.Totally, they visited more than 30 important universities and research institutions, with an ambition to promote Indo-Swedish researcher cooperation and student exchange in all fields, from medicine/natural sciences to social sciences/humanities. A large number of fruitful meetings were held in all the places visited, including Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Loni, Pune, Bangalore and Mysore. In New Delhi, the Swedish Embassy also organised a reception/dinner for the academic world in honour of the visiting SASNET delegation. Read the short summary travel report, or read the more detailed travel report, with links to 34 special reports from each and every institution visited.

On Saturday 3 November 2007, a seminar meeting was organised in New Delhi for SASNET’s South Asian Reference group, consisting of a number of senior researchers from the region, who closely observe SASNET’s activities and give constructive suggestions to the root node.
SASNET’s Director Anna Lindberg and the Deputy Director Lars Eklund met and discussed with Dr. Rita Afsar, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Dr. Tek Nath Dhakal, Campus Chief of Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal; Professor Kumudu Wijewardena, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (SJP), Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dr. Dipak Malik, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Varanasi, India; and Dr. J. Devika, Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The only missing member was Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta, Dept. of Paediatrics, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. (More information about the group). The meeting was held at the Nordic Centre in India (NCI) in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, and was organized informally as a “think tank” session. The atmosphere was conducive to an open and relaxed discussion, and the results were very fruitful. Read the report from the SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group meeting.

From 18 November till 19 December 2005 SASNET’s director, Professor Staffan Lindberg and the deputy director Lars Eklund travelled in the North-Eastern part of South Asia. They visited a great number of universities and institutes in East and North-East India (Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Siliguri, Guwahati and Shillong); Bangladesh (Dhaka, Savar, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet); Bhutan (Phuntsholing, Thimphu and Paro); and Nepal (Kathmandu). Go for the extensive contact journey frame report.

A SASNET contact journey to Pakistan and Afghanistan was made by SASNET’s director Staffan Lindberg, and webmaster/deputy director Lars Eklund, 20 November – 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 the full reports on the journey.

In the Spring 2002, Staffan Lindberg, and Lars Eklund made a tour to South Asia in order to link up the SASNET activities with universities and research institutions in different countries of the region. The two visited the Maldives (Male) 26–27 February, Sri Lanka 28 February–5 March, India (New Delhi, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Shantiniketan) 6–19 March; and finally Bangladesh 20–22 March. Read their reports from the journey.

SASNET organised a successful conference on South Asian Studies for young Nordic scholars in August 2009. A report has been compiled by Ms. Julia Velkova from the conference organising committee. Read the report (as a pdf-file).
The conference was held at Falsterbo Kursgård in Höllviken (south of Malmö) 17-19 August 2009. The aim of the conference was to gather masters students, PhD candidates, and young post-docs in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway who focus on South Asia in their research studies. 45 participants came to the conference, that had been planned by an organising committee led by Dr. Kristina Myrvold, Dept. of History of Religions, Lund University, PhD Candidate Ferdinando Sardella, Gothenburg University, and Julia Velkova, who is an M.A. in Eastern Philosophy and Culture from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria.
The aim behind the conference, which was very much similar to another successful conference that SASNET organised in Marstrand in October 2002 (more information about the 2002 conference), was to provide an opportunity for young scholars to present their future and ongoing research projects, estblish contacts with colleagues in the Nordic countries, and discuss common challenges and opportunities when conducting research in South Asia related studies.
Prof. Vinayak Chaturvedi, University of California Irvine, was the keynote speaker. He lectured about ”Dialogues with M.K. Gandhi on History and Violence in India”.
A number of thematic sessions were led by Prof. Knut A. Jacobsen, University of Bergen (History, Religion, and Culture I); Dr. Peter B Andersen, Copenhagen University (History, Religion, and Culture II); Dr. Catarina Kinnvall, Lund University (Society, Development, and Gender); Dr. Per Hilding, Stockholm University (Nature, Health, and Environment); and Dr. Per Knutsson, Gothenburg University (Technology, Economics, and International Relations).
Finally three plenary interdisciplinary sessions were organised on important issues. They were prepared by selected student participants, who raised questions on three given topics, namely ”Career Planning, Funding, and Passion for South Asian Studies”, ”Publication, Conference,Teaching and Other Activities”; and ”Networking and Future Research”, to a number of ”champions”, senior Nordic researchers from the SASNET network. (photo from one of the sessions).
The ”champions” were Prof. Bo Lindblad, Karolinska Institutet; Dr. Anna Godhe, Gothenburg University; Dr. Jan Magnusson, Lund University; Dr. Christer Norström, Stockholm University, Prof. Devdatt Dubhashi, Chalmers University of Technology; Dr. Zarina Kabir, Karolinska Institutet; Dr. Stig Toft Madsen, SASNET; and Prof. Staffan Lindberg, Lund University. See the programme, including a list of participants (as a pdf-file)
Photos from the conference.

Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund from SASNET visited Stockholm and Västerås on 15–16 June 2009. The visit to Stockholm focused on discussions regarding possible forms for continued funding for SASNET from 2010, with visits to the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. They also made some networking visits to a couple of research departments at KTH – the Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering, and the KTH Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, actively engaged in South Asia related projects.

Lars continued to Västerås to meet researchers and programme coordinators at Mälardalen University, working on South Asia related collaboration projects in research and education, including the ongoing Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation programme EURECA. Read a report from Anna’s and Lars’ visit to Stockholm and Västerås.

In mid-March 2009 SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund visited two universities in southern Sweden, Jönköping University and Växjö University. Networking is the main purpose of SASNET, and a regular feature of our activities therefore consists of visiting Swedish universities to meet with researchers and educationists involved in South Asia related research and/or educational collaboration projects. On 19 March, Lars visited Jönköping University, one of the strongest in Sweden when it comes to internationalisation work including collaboration projects with South Asia. Lars met with international coordinators and researchers/educationists from all four schools of the university – Jönköping International Business School (JIBS); School of Education and Communication; School of Engineering; and School of Health Sciences.

The most interesting South Asia related news at Jönköping University right now was the fact that JIBS has taken over the responsibility to develop a technical university in the Pakistani city of Sialkot. A project initially run by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, but since KTH withdrew from the project it was administered by Dr. Ramon Wyss, at the time Vice-president for International Affairs at JIBS.

Lars Eklund, Ashis Sengupta, Maria Olaussen and Piia Posti.

The following day, 20 March, Lars visited Växjö University to meet researchers and educationists involved in South Asia projects at the School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences. The visit also coincided with a seminar by Dr. Ashis Sengupta, Professor of English at North Bengal University in Siliguri, India who had been invited to Växjö on a SASNET guest lecture programme grant (more information). The most interesting news from Växjö is that the university is going to merge with Kalmar University on 1 January 2010. The organisation of faculties and institutions was decided upon as recently as 26 March 2009 (more information about the new merged university that will be named Linnaeus University).
Read Lars Eklund’s Report from the visit to Jönköping and Växjö universities.

On Monday 2 March 2009, Lars Eklund and Stig Toft Madsen from SASNET participated in a brain storming/awareness raising workshop on ”Contemporary India Study Centres in Europe: Status & Further Developments” that was held in Paris. The so-called India-EU Study Centres Programme (IESCP) was set up by the European Commission in 2008 as an integral part of the India-EU Joint Action Plan adopted in 2005. It aims to promote a better understanding of the EU in India and vice versa through academic and other forms of collaboration. Its chief objective is both to strengthen existing study centres and establish new ones focusing on EU studies in India as well as on contemporary Indian studies in Europe. The meeting was organised by Sciences Po/CERI (Center for International Studies and Research) in Paris. More information.

SASNET co-organised an international workshop on ”Women and migration in South Asia. Health and Social Consequences” that was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka 9–11 February 2009. The workshop was organised by SASNET in collaboration with the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (SJP) in Colombo, and the Division of International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) at Uppsala University. Researchers in the field were invited from all over the South Asia region and from Swedish institutions. SASNET’s director Anna Lindberg and deputy director Lars Eklund both participated in the workshop.

The focus was on the consequences of migration for women, their children and families in South Asia. The themes to be covered were the effects of such migration with respect to: social consequences, gender perspective, economy at family level, health including sexually transmitted diseases, and child development and psychology. See the full programme for the workshop.
The workshop was also the first effort to realise the concept of SASNET sub-networks, put forward at the informal meeting by SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group held in Delhi in November 2007 (more information), later decided upon by SASNET’s board. One of the reference group members, Dr. Kumudu Wijewardena (photo to the right) from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (SJP) in Colombo chaired the Colombo workshop. A separate meeting was held with SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group on Tuesday 10 February. Read a report from the meeting.

Ahmed Ali Maniku and Naseema Mohamed.

On his way to Sri Lanka, Lars Eklund also visited the Maldives for two days, and met the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Ahmed Ali Maniku; and Ms. Naseema Mohamed, Special Advisor to the Dept. of History, National Centre for Linguistic and Historic research in Male. Read Lars’ February 2009 report from Maldives.


Anna Lindberg on the other hand proceeded to Kerala, India after participating in the Colombo workshop. She participated in discussions about the development of the new so-called Sustainable Kerala Network, a Swedish South Asian Network on Sustainable Development, initiated by Prof. Baboo Nair, Lund University. The meeting was held at Kerala University in Thiruvananthapuram on 21 February 2009. Read Anna’s report from the meeting.


Anna also participated in a meeting with representatives of CREST, the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation in Kozhikode, and the NGO Kabani, based in Wayanad. The meeting was also held in Thiruvananthapuram on 21 February 2009. Read Anna’s report from the meeting.

SASNET was the main funding agency behind the international research conference on “Nature, Knowledge, Power” that was held in Uppsala 15-17 August 2008. The conference, hosted by the Department of Urban and Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), and chaired by Dr. Gunnel Cederlöf, Dept. of History (and chairperson of SASNET’s board) brought together researchers from different academic fields, concerned with questions of environment and society under present and historical conditions. About forty researchers and research students equally from South Asian and European universities participated in the conference and 25 full research papers were presented papers within five panels: “Energy: renewable and sustainable?”, “Competing rights, codifying law”, “Community rights under neoliberal rule”, “Who needs conservation? Nature, people, survival”, and “Ideologies of environmental change: from imperial modernization to postcolonial social equality?” The conference administrator was Henrik Chetan Aspengren.
The keynote speakers were Dr. Amita Baviskar from the Institute of Economic Growth at Delhi University, India and Prof. Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan. At the conference, an inter-disciplinary network of researchers focusing on South Asian environmental issues began to emerge. SASNET will work to find ways to let this network materialize within its own activities. More information about the Uppsala conference.

On Wednesday 14 March 2007, SASNET’s Director Staffan Lindberg and Deputy Director Lars Eklund visited the School of Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Ronneby. They visited the campus for a discussion of its activities related to South Asia and a discussion of would SASNET could do for the promotion of its South Asia activities. They were hosted by Jan-Olof Gustavsson, Dean, School of Engineering, Maria Engelmark, Head of International Office, Lars Lundberg, Professor of Computer Systems Engineering, and Mikael Åsman, Head of Masters Programme in Electrical Engineering. Read a report from the SASNET visit to Ronneby.

On Thursday 15 February 2007, SASNET’s Director Staffan Lindberg and Deputy Director Lars Eklund visited Kalmar University and met researchers involved in the SASNET network. Prof. William Hogland at the Dept. of Technology (Ingenjörshögskolan) presented plans for a new BSc/MSc/PhD programme in Environmental Science and Engineering that is planned for in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand. Prof. Hans Jansson at the Baltic Business School (BBS), a long time specialist on Swedish business in India and China, presented the International research carried out at BBS. Read the SASNET report from Kalmar University.

Two of the workshop organisers, Ulla Rylander from the Swedish Institute, and Staffan Lindberg, Director for SASNET.

SASNET successfully held a workshop on the "Role of South Asia in the Internationa-lisation of Higher Education in Sweden" at Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm 28-29 November 2006. It was jointly organised by SASNET, Karolinska Institutet Medical University and the Swedish Institute, and involved sessions with representatives from 20 Swedish universities, and from the International Programme Office for Education and Training; the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education; STINT; the Government ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs; and the South Asian embassies in Stockholm.

The focus was on experiences from masters and PhD programmes in Sweden as well as in South Asia, with an aim to promote increased academic exchange with South Asia.
Most of the workshop presentations are now available on our web site as pdf-files. They include Mr. Sunandan Roy Chowdhury’s (photo to the right) provocative keynote presentatIon, titled ”The Moffusil and the Metropolitan – Higher Education’s Meandering Paths”. In addition to this, Jan Magnusson (a key person behind the creation of SASNET seven years ago and now a member of SASNET’s board) has written a report, summarizing the two-day workshop sessions. Read the workshop report.

SASNET successfully arranged the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies in Lund 6–9 July 2004. With 360 participants from all over the World actually turning up (including a large number of PhD candidates and participants from from South Asia itself) it was the largest ECMSAS conference so far, and certainly the largest gathering ever on Swedish soil of South Asia oriented researchers, covering all fields from the humanities and social sciences to technology, natural sciences and medicine. Full updated information on the Lund conference.

An extensive Conference Diary has been prepared by Dr. William Radice, renowned Bengali Studies scholar from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK, and a brilliant writer. He was assigned by the conference organisers to write it. Read his report called ”Swedish Rhapsody”! (as a pdf-file)
Radice’s article has now also been published in extenso in the 2004 Puja Festival publication from the The Statesman, Kolkata, in October 2004. The article is illustrated with photos of Lund University.
Behnoush Payvar’s photos from the five days of the conference are now published on the web. Go for the photo albums!

A large number of full papers presented to the 44 conference panels have been posted on the conference website, and are still available. See the full list of conference panels, abstracts and papers

The panel convenors have presented reports on the outcome of their respective panel. Reports for 41 out of the 44 panels are available. Go for the summary of Panel Reports (as a pdf-file)

SASNET’s webmaster Lars Eklund regularly visits departments and researchers/educationists involved in South Asia related research at Swedish universities.
It is part of an effort to strenghten the SASNET national network. In November 2004 he visited Örebro University in connection with the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Sweden–India Project, run by the Social Work programme; Department of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences (report from the occasion), but also visited the Department of Caring Sciences. In December 2004 Lars went to Luleå University of Technology, where he visited the Department of Economics and the Divisions of Industrial Design, Mineral Processing, and Operation and Maintenance Engineering. Earlier during 2004 Lars Eklund also visited the University of Dalarna, Campus Falun, Göteborg University, and Linköping University Campus Norrköping.

On 20 June 2005 Lars visited Uppsala University, where he met with researchers at the Department of Linguistics and Philology (in the South Asian Languages and Culture division, the Iranian languages division, and the Linguistics and Computer Lingustics division); at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology; and finally at the International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) division of the Dept. of Women's and Children's Health.

The following day he proceeded to Karolinska Institutet Medical University in Stockholm and met with researchers at the Division of International Health (IHCAR), the Center of Molecular Medicine; the Paediatric Endocrinology Unit of the Dept. of Woman and Child Health, and other departments involved in South Asia related research and education. He also attended the meeting of Karolinska Institutet Research and Training Committee, KIRT, when it decided to intensify and extend the already existing collaboration on research and research training with Pakistan (more information on KIRT).

Follow-up meetings to the SASNET’s symposium in Marstrand in October 2002 were arranged at Karlstad University and Göteborg University in September 2003. Researchers, teachers and students engaged in South Asian studies at Karlstad University presented their work at a meeting on Wednesday 24 September (some of the participants shown on the photo to the right). Read a report from the Karlstad seminar.

Researchers, teachers and students engaged in South Asia related research at Göteborg University were given an introduction to SASNET and its web site at a meeting on Thursday 25 September. More information on the meeting in which SASNET’s Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund took part.

As a follow-up on the discussions that emerged at SASNET’s symposium for South Asia oriented PhD students in Marstrand in October 2002 (read the reports) Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund from SASNET visited Stockholm and Uppsala 14–16 May 2003, and had local meetings with researchers, teachers and students.
In Stockholm a meeting was held at Karolinska Institutet Medical University on Wednesday 14 May 2003, with representatives from Stockholm University; Karolinska Institutet; Royal Institute of Technology (KTH); and Södertörn University College. Read a report from the meeting.
In Uppsala the Collegium for Development Studies held a full-day seminar with PhD students, supervisors, and teachers/researchers, with an introduction by Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund, on Friday 16 May, at Atrium Hotell and Conference.

SASNET was represented in the Swedish delegation when the 14th session of the joint Indo-Swedish commission met in New Delhi 1–2 April 2003. The delegations were led by Swedish minister of trade and industry Mr Leif Pagrotsky, and Indian minister for commerce and industry Mr Arun Jaitley. Although mainly focussing on issues of trade and investment the session also included some matters pertaining to science and technology.

A paragraph stating SASNET's networking purpose and capacity to act as an intermediary between the Swedish research community and MHRD was added to the official minutes of the session.
Read Jan Magnusson’s report from the meeting.

The conference on Swedish Development Studies research, named ”Fattiga och rika. Aktuell utvecklingsforskning och dess villkor i Sverige” was organised by Sida/SAREC and Lund University on 9–11 January 2003. The conditions for development research in Sweden was thoroughly discussed, and a large number of Swedish researchers presented their projects/programmes during the extremely fruitful conference. Several of the projects are related to South Asia. See SASNET’s list of these, accompanied by abstracts.

We also present papers presented by two of the key speakers: • Professor Barbara Harriss-White on ”Unruly and Informal Globalisation and its Impact on Development: A Background Note”, and • Professor Keith Griffin on ”Economic Globalisation and Institutions of Global Governance” (Word documents).

The SASNET symposium for Swedish PhD students and post-docs engaged in research related to South Asia took place on 25–27 October 2002, at Marstrands Varmbadhus, north of Göteborg. The sessions were devoted to discuss the situation of PhD students in South Asian Studies or South Asia relevant studies (recruitment, fieldwork, supervision, finishing, post-doc situation). Programme, participants list and basis for discussions are available on our web page http://www.sasnet.lu.se/phdsymp.html. Reviews from the sessions and the group discussions are also published.

SASNET was represented by both Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund at the 17th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, which took place at Heidelberg, Germany, 9–14 September, 2002. 300 participating South Asia researchers from all over the World made the conference into a major event. Read our report on the conference. We also present a few snapshots from the conference. See our images!

SASNET International Workshop on global networking at Lund 27–28 August 2001
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.
The final discussion round at the last day of SASNET’s workshop on global networking in August, 2001, a discussion which summed up the whole workshop, is transcribed and available on the SASNET gateway. Go straight to it.

A workshop on ”Managing Common Resources – What is the solution?” was orgaanised at Lund University on 10–11 September 2001. SASNET’s Staffan Lindberg was the key organiser of the symposium. Go to the conference report including full research papers.

SASNET planning Conference in October 2000
On October 14-15, 2000 around 70 South Asia researchers in Sweden came together at Grand Hotel in Lund to discuss the formation of SASNET. Discussions were held on many topics. Reports from the conference are to be found at SASNET´s old web page.

Report from Karlstad. Staffan Lindberg and Jan Magnusson visited Karlstad University, December, 1, 2000.

Report from Uppsala. Staffan Lindberg and Jan Magnusson visited Uppsala University, December, 18, 2000.

Principles for the Third Task, sugested by Jan Magnusson in November 2000, and agreed upon by the SASNET board

Regional initiative in which SASNET is highly involved.

• The ØRNAST educational cooperation project between the universities of Lund and Copenhagen was formally inaugurated with a ceremony at Copenhagen University on Tuesday 14 September 2004.
More information on the ØRNAST cooperation.

Administrative report no. 1 (Work report for the period August 1999 – 15 February 2001)
By Staffan Lindberg, acting co-ordinator and chairman of the working group for SASNET; assisted by Jan Magnusson, member of the working group and acting secretary/webmaster until 31 December 2000 (Lund 16 February 2001).

Administrative report no. 2 (Work report for the period 1 January 2001– 31 December 2001)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 10 January 2002).

Administrative report no. 3 (Work report for the period 1 January 2002– 31 december 2002)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 17 March 2003).

Administrative report no. 4 (Work report for the period 1 January 2003– 31 december 2003)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 16 March 2004).

Administrative report no. 5 (Work report for the period 1 January 2004– 31 december 2004)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 6 April 2005).

Administrative report no. 6 (Work report for the period 1 January 2005– 31 december 2005)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 7 April 2006).

Administrative report no. 7 (Work report for the period 1 January 2006– 31 december 2006)
By Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 12 April 2007).

Administrative report no. 8 (Work report for the period 1 January 2007– 31 december 2007)
By Anna Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 11 April 2008)

Administrative report no. 9 (Work report for the period 1 January 2008– 31 december 2008)
By Anna Lindberg, director/co-ordinator; and Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director (Lund 15 April 2009).

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Published monthly. Join our mailing-list, by sending us an e-mail, to receive them regularly.

• Newsletter 1. January, 30, 2001

• Newsletter 2. February, 1, 2001

• Newsletter 3. March, 1, 2001

• Newsletter 4. April, 4, 2001

• Newsletter 5. May, 9, 2001

• Newsletter 6. June 12, 2001

• Newsletter 7. July, 18, 2001

• Newsletter 8. August, 22, 2001

• Newsletter 9. September 12, 2001

• Newsletter 10. October, 23, 2001

• Newsletter 11. December, 5, 2001

• Newsletter 12. January, 8, 2002

• Regional Newsletter, January, 28, 2002

• Newsletter 13. February, 14, 2002

• Regional Newsletter, April, 5, 2002

• Newsletter 14. April, 8, 2002

• Regional Newsletter, May, 7, 2003

• Newsletter 15. May, 13, 2002

• Newsletter 16. June, 11, 2002

• Newsletter 17. August, 9, 2002

• Newsletter 18. September, 6, 2002

• Newsletter 19. September, 26, 2002

• Newsletter 20. October, 24, 2002

• Newsletter 21. November, 15, 2002

• Newsletter 22. December, 19, 2003

• Newsletter 23. January 21, 2003

• Newsletter 24. February, 12, 2003

• Newsletter 25. March, 17, 2003

• Newsletter 26. April, 17, 2003

• Newsletter 27. May, 13, 2003

• Newsletter 28. June, 12, 2003

• Newsletter 29. July, 11, 2003

• Newsletter 30. August, 12, 2003

• Newsletter 31. September, 12, 2003

• Newsletter 32. October, 13, 2003

• Newsletter 33. November, 13, 2003

• Newsletter 34. December, 7, 2003

• Newsletter 35. January, 27, 2004

• Newsletter 36. February, 17, 2004

• Newsletter 37. March, 10, 2004

• Newsletter 38. April 15, 2004

• Newsletter 39. May, 11, 2004

• Newsletter 40. June, 15, 2004

• Newsletter 41. July, 15, 2004

• Newsletter 42. August, 27, 2004

• Newsletter 43. September, 17, 2004

• Newsletter 44. October, 5, 2004

• Newsletter 45. November, 3, 2004

• Newsletter 46. November, 25, 2004

• Newsletter 47. December, 23, 2004

• Tsunami Newsletter. December, 30, 2004

• Newsletter 48. January, 20, 2005

• Newsletter 49. February, 18, 2005

• Newsletter 50. March, 18, 2005

• Newsletter 51. April, 19, 2005

• Newsletter 52. May, 19, 2005

• Newsletter 53. June, 30, 2005

• Newsletter 54. August, 15, 2005

• Newsletter 55. September, 23, 2005

• Newsletter 56. October, 20, 2005

• Newsletter 57. November, 17, 2005

• Newsletter 58. January, 23, 2006

• Newsletter 59. March, 9, 2006

• Newsletter 60. April, 7, 2006

• Newsletter 61. April, 28, 2006

• Newsletter 62. May, 24, 2006

• Newsletter 63. June, 20, 2006

• Newsletter 64. August, 25, 2006

• Newsletter 65. September, 20, 2006

• Newsletter 66. October, 17, 2006

• Newsletter 67. November, 9, 2006

• Newsletter 68. December, 11, 2006

• Newsletter 69. January, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 70. February, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 71. March, 6, 2007

• Newsletter 72. April, 17, 2006

• Newsletter 73. April, 27, 2007

• Newsletter 74. May, 29, 2007

• Newsletter 75. June, 20, 2007

• Newsletter 76. July, 13, 2007

• Newsletter 77. September, 14, 2007

• Newsletter 78. October, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 79. October, 20, 2007

• Newsletter 80. December, 14, 2007

• Newsletter 81. January, 30, 2008

• Newsletter 82. February, 27, 2008

• Newsletter 83. March, 27, 2008

• Newsletter 84. April, 25, 2008

• Newsletter 85. May, 20, 2008

• Newsletter 86. June, 10, 2008

• Newsletter 87. August, 21, 2008

• Newsletter 88. September, 15, 2008

• Newsletter 89. October, 3, 2008

• Newsletter 90. November, 3, 2008

• Newsletter 91. December, 5, 2008

• Newsletter 92. January, 14, 2009

• Newsletter 93. February, 4, 2009

• Newsletter 94. March, 10, 2009

• Newsletter 95. April 6, 2009

• Newsletter 96. April 30, 2009

• Newsletter 97. May, 27, 2009

• Newsletter 98. June, 11, 2009

• Newsletter 99. July, 23, 2009

• Newsletter 100. September, 4, 2009

• Newsletter 101. October, 2, 2009

• Newsletter 102. October, 20, 2009

• Newsletter 103. November, 6, 2009

• Newsletter 104. December, 2, 2009

• Christmas letter 09. December, 23, 2009

• Newsletter 105. January 29, 2010

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• 29 August, 2001. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 24 January, 2002. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 27 August, 2002. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 28 January, 2003. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 26 August, 2003. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 4 February 2004. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 24 August 2004. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 15 February 2005. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 30 August 2005. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 14 February 2006. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 29 August 2006. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 29 January 2007. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 28 August 2007. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 5 February 2008. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 26 August 2008. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 27 January 2009. Minutes (pdf-file)

• 22 September 2009. Minutes (pdf-file)

SASNET has a unique collection of books about South Asia in its root node office at Scheelevägen 15 D in Lund. The library consists of more than 120 doctoral dissertations from the middle of the 1990s (and in some cases even older) up  to 2008 published in Sweden and the other Nordic countries; besides a large number of other titles. The unpretentious SASNET library encompasses a wide range of subjects, reflecting the variety of South Asia related  research topics undertaken in the Nordic countries.
We also keep a collection of mostly Sri Lanka related books donated to SASNET by the Swedish journalist Thomas Bibin. It includes books, pamphlets and articles (mostly from Sri Lankan authors) from the 1960s onwards.

Finally the library contains all the leading international peer-reviewed South Asia related journals within humanities and social sciences. Books and journals can be borrowed from Lars Eklund, who manages the collection. SASNET also gladly accepts any new publications from recent PhDs, researchers and academics in the Nordic countries.

– Go for the catalogue of South Asia related theses in SASNET’s collection.

– Other books in the SASNET collection (pdf-file).

– The Thomas Bibin collection (pdf-file)

– Peer-reviewed journals (pdf-file)

• SASNET has taken care of and catalogued a large books donation from the private library collection of the renowned Swedish historian Karl Reinhold Haellquist, who passed away in 2000 after working for many years at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen. A large part of the collection, more than 6000 South Asia related books, journals, videotapes and pamphlets on various aspects of South Asian studies, was later donated to SASNET/Lund University by his wife, Inger Sondén-Haellquist. The collection includes Haellquist’s unique collection of books on Mahatma Gandhi. These Gandhi books, and other works from the collection, are now on display in Lund University’s Asia Library (adjacent to the SASNET root node office in Lund, open Monday-Friday 9–17, at Scheelevägen 15 C, first floor). The remaining part of Karl Reinhold Haellquist Memorial Collection is kept at SASNET’s office. More information on the Karl Reinhold Haellquist book donation.

In 2007, the Crafoord Foundation also decided to give a grant to SASNET in order to digitalize other parts of Karl Reinhold Haellquist’s (photo) private archive. With supplementary funding from SASNET this work was carried out during the Fall 2008 by a hired librarian, Erik Svanström. With regard to K R Haellquist’s specialised interest in Mahatma Gandhi, it was decided to concentrate the efforts to the vast material on Gandhi in Haellquist’s material. In the new web site we meet Gandhi through Haellquist’s lecture notes. SASNET’s ambition is that it will continue to spread light on Gandhi and his ideas. GandhiServe Foundation has kindly given their permission to make digital use of the images in Haellquist's lecture notes.
Go for the KRHMC web site on Gandhi.