SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Unit for Individual, Culture and Society, Department of Education, Gothenburg University

Postal address: Enheten för individ, kultur och samhälle, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, Box 300, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
Visiting address: Pedagogen hus A, Västra Hamngatan 25 ("Sociala huset")
Fax: +46 (0)31 786 2100
Web page: http://www.ipd.gu.se//

Contact person: Associate Professor Ilse Hakvoort, phone: +46 (031) 786 2485

Ilse Hakvoort received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Amsterdam in 1996, with a Doctoral dissertation titled ”Conceptualizations of peace and war from childhood through adolescence”. She came as visiting researcher to Göteborg with a post-doc grant in October 1997. At present, Ilse Hakvoort has a position as a lecturer at the department. Her research interests focusses on the development of children's conceptualization of peace and war, learning and development in different socio-cultural contexts, peace-education, conflict resolution in the school context, and children’s rights and realities. She is involved in courses on conflict resolution in preschool and school, and children’s rights and realities.

South Asia related activities at the department

A collaboration project has been established between the department and the Government S.K. College (related to the University of Rajasthan) in Sikar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The collaboration project has got financial support from the Swedish International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella programkontoret) in the form of a Linnaeus-Palme International Exchange Programme grant. The grant was first given in March 2007, for exchange activities involving sending teachers and students both ways from 2007-08. More information about the Linnaeus Palme grants 2007.
In February 2008 Dr. Ilse Hakvoort visited Jaipur, India and the first detailed discussions took place for a future collaboration with Dr. Amita Agarwal. Dr. Agarwal visited Göteborg in May 2008. The next step of this collaboration was granted by the Linnaeus-Palme collaboration programme with a teachers exchange grant for 2008/2009.
The contact person on the Indian side is Amita Agarwal, Head of the Department of Political Science. She recently completed her post-doctoral research project on “Indo-US Relations and Peace Prospects in the Indian Ocean Region” at the South Asia Studies Center, University of Rajasthan. Amita Agarwal is an active member of several professional associations (national and international) and is at present the State Chancellor of the Rajasthan Chapter of the International Association of Educators for World Peace. Her latest publications include Human Rights for the Survival of Civilization (Kalinga, New Delhi, 2004), Indian Ocean and World Peace (Kanishka, New Delhi, 2000), and a chapter on the human rights of children in the volume Law and Poverty (Zed Press, London, 2006). Amita Agarwal participated in the conference on ”Women and Politics in Asia”, organised in Halmstad 6-7 June 2003. There she presented a paper titled ”Empowering Women Through Reservation in Representative Institutions in India” in a session on Women’s Political Participation and Representation.

The next phase of the collaboration between the Dept. of Education, Gothenburg Univerity, and Government S.K. College in Sikar, the organisation of a joint Indo-Swedish conference entitled ”Do girls belong to a lesser God? The rights and realities of girl children in the developing and the developed world” was planned for September 2010. However, due to lack of funds, the conference will not be able to hold.