SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Welcome speech by Boel Flodgren:

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear participants in this the first workshop of SASNET, Swedish South Asian Studies Network. I want to greet you welcome to Lund, to Lund university and to this workshop, which to me seems to be the start of something really important and big.

Lund university is, as most of you already know, a comprehensive University, where we find most disciplines in teaching and research. It tries to be, and I think we can say that we are, a truly international University. SASNET, your workshop, and your presence here strengthen this multidisciplinarity and the international profile of the University, and we are very grateful that you are coming here and contributing in this way. We usually establish centres in the form of centres, and we have established centres around East and Southeast Asian studies, around European studies, and several other themes.

But this time we find the organisation in the form of a network, which is something truly new for us. This is a way to recognize that there are many strong research groups and other things going on about South Asia in Sweden, in the Nordic countries at large, and in South Asia. Working in the form of a network is a very flexible and equal way to share inter-disciplinarity and knowledge about this part of the world, and also an equal way to be creative together. SASNET is a process rather than a fixed institution.

Globalisation is a hot issue today, to say the least. Knowledge, technological development, and capital are only a few of the phenomena which are unevenly distributed around the world. The conditions and development in South Asia is tremendously complex and attracts an increasing attention from the rest of the world.

Therefore this network, with focus on research and student exchange, education and co-operation with industry, governments and NGO:s is of utmost importance in this development. And the workshop, which starts today is, as I said, the beginning of a great effort.

I would like to express my my very deep gratitude to SIDA, which has provided the funding, to Staffan Lindberg and his team for having designed this network and made it start working, and to all of you for the focus you have put on these complex issues.

Lund University is very proud to welcome you here today, and have great expectations regarding this network. So once again, a warm welcome to you all. I wish you the best of luck with this workshop and with SASNET in the years to come.

Boel Flodgren 27 August 2001