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SASNET Symposium 2022

Picture of the participants from the Symposium 2022

Renewable energy, interviews with former Maoist women combatants, and urban development in Mumbai. SASNET’s Annual Symposium offered a full day of presentations of ongoing research, ranging from everyday transactions at New Delhi’s open markets to the issue of shrinking spaces for civil society organisations in India.

Picture from Symposium at SASNET

The symposium took place in the Old Bishop’s House at Lund University on 30 September and it gathered scholars from across the social sciences and the humanities as well as from a number of universities in the Nordic region.

The symposium was divided into three main themes: Urban Spaces and Community-Making, Majoritarianism and Nation-Building, and Development, Activism and Shrinking Civic Space.

Isha Dubey, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Global Studies at Aarhus University, presented her ongoing research on Dawoodi Bohras in Bhendi Bazaar, Mumbai:

Picture for Isha Dubey speaking at sasnet symposium 2022

- The SASNET symposium presented a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with and showcase the exciting work being carried out on the South Asian region in Scandinavia. What was particularly fruitful was that while the projects presented were considerably diverse in their scope and disciplinary foci, there still exited substantial thematic synergies across them for facilitating engaging discussions through the course of the day. 

At the end of the symposium, participants held a discussion about SASNET’s future priorities and initiatives. Ted Svensson, Director of SASNET, expressed his gratitude for the many constructive ideas that were shared:

- It is exactly through events and discussions such as these that we can bring about a dynamic and productive conversation about how to encourage high-quality research on South Asia. It also allows us to jointly reflect on the role that SASNET can and should play during the next few years.

We would like to convey our gratitude to all participants.

Picture of Ted Svensson, director of SASNET

Read the full programme below:

Session 1: Urban Spaces and Community-Making
Chair: Ted Svensson 

  • Isha Dubey (Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University) ‘Urban Redevelopment and Articulations of Modernity, Tradition and Community among the Dawoodi Bohras of Bhendi Bazaar in Mumbai’
  • Riya Raphael (School of Social Work) ‘Multiple Dimensions of Value at Work: Experiences of Street Traders in Delhi, India’
  • Rishi Jha (School of Social Work) ‘Evaluating the State of Urban Redevelopments in an Indian Metropolis’

Session 2: Majoritarianism and Nation-Building
Chair: Mine Islar
Discussant: Ted Svensson

  • Catarina Kinnvall (Department of Political Science) ‘Resisting Hindutva: Popular Culture, the Covid Crisis and Fantasy-Narratives of Gendered Bodies in India’
  • Priscyll Anctil (Department of Political Science) ‘The Continuum of Militancy: 15 Years of Maoist Female Ex-Combatants Reintegration’ 

Session 3: Development, Activism and Shrinking Civic Space
Chair: Riya Raphael
Discussant: Catarina Kinnvall 

  • Soumi Banerjee (School of Social Work) ‘Performing Agency in Shrinking Spaces: Acting Beyond the Resilience–Resistance Binary’
  • Mine Islar (LUCSUS) ‘Rivers of Commons: Understanding Sustainability Transitions in Nepal through the Lens of Energy Justice’ 
  • 14.45-15.30 Discussion – future SASNET initiatives and priorities