SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Follow-up meetings to the SASNET’s symposium in Marstrand in October 2002:

Spring 2003:

• As a follow-up on the discussions that emerged at SASNET’s symposium for South Asia oriented PhD students in Marstrand in October 2002 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 on Wednesday 14 May 2003, with interested persons at Stockholm University; the Karolinska Institutet Medical University; Royal Institute of Technology (KTH); and Södertörn University College, at Karolinska Institutet.
Read a report from the Stockholm 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 2003, at Atrium Hotell and Conference.

Fall 2003:

• In September 2003 SASNET’s Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund visited Karlstad and Göteborg, and held similar meetings with South Asia oriented researchers, teachers and students at the universities there.

SASNET seminar at Karlstad University 24 September 2003

Researchers, teachers and students engaged in South Asian studies are invited to a SASNET seminar arranged at Karlstad University on Wednesday 24 September 24 , 09.00-15.00.
Venue: Karlstad University, Room 3 A 340.
Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund from SASNET visited Karlstad University as a follow-up on the discussions that emerged at SASNET's symposium for South Asia oriented PhD students in Marstrand in October 2002. The aim was to inform on research, exchange programmes and courses related to South Asia at Karlstad University, and to discuss how SASNET and Karlstad University can contribute in different ways.
Ongoing South Asia related project at Karlstad University were presented and discussed, among them:

∑ Film: Visual academic report and research tool. Dr Marc Katz, Dept. of History of Religion, currently completing a visual report on Muharram, a multi-cultural event in Varanasi, India.
∑ Research on stereotypes in textbooks in Sweden and India. Dr Kjell Härenstam, Dept. of History of Religion.

The meeting also opened up a discussion for students from different disciplines and gave them an opportunity to discuss their present situation, and how SASNET could be of any help. Prof. Gerhard Gustafsson from the Dept. of Cultural Geography gave his experience of tutoring Swedish students in India.

Read our full report from the meeting in Karlstad!

Researchers, teachers and students at PhD and Masters level engaged in South Asian studies at Göteborg University were invited to a SASNET seminar on Thursday 25 September 2003, at Världshuset, room 103, Brogatan 4, Göteborg. The meeting was hosted by Prof. Wil Burghoorn from the Centre for Asian Studies, CEAS.

Professor Staffan Lindberg, the SASNET Director and Coordinator and Lars Eklund, Webmaster of SASNET and Editor of the South Asia Journal, presented the network and the web site extensively, and got a very positive response from the participants who were impressed by the amount of valuable information available.

Together they discussed crucial questions on the work situation of PhD and Masters’ students in South Asian related studies – questions of recruitment, field work, supervision, and publishing post-doctoral studies.
The seminar was also meant to strengthen links between departments, centres, researchers, and students in Göteborg. The list of departments in Göteborg where South Asia related research is going on is impressive, and the organizers looked forward to a broad participation and valuable discussions on current and future research activities and study programmes in South Asia. The participants represented several departments where South Asia related research is strong, e g the Dept of Peace and Development Research, PADRIGU, the Dept of Human and Economic Geography, the Dept. of Plant and Environmental Sciences, the Dept of Religious Studies, and the Dept of Comparative Philology (closed down in Dec 2000).

After the formal meeting ended Lindberg and Eklund met Shanti Nandana Wijesinghe and Dhammika Herath, two of the altogether six Srilankan PhD candidates who have joined a Sida/SAREC funded Sandwich programme at PADRIGU. They discussed the benefits and the disadvantages present in the form the sandwich programme is carried out. More information on the ongoing sandwich programme at PADRIGU.

Participants from Göteborg University:
Wil Burghoorn	Olof Olsson	Folke Josephsson	Björn Hettne
Anders Närman	Jonas Lindberg	Camilla Orjuela	Pelle Amberntsson
Magnus Holm	Anna Laine	Bianca Leidi	Gokarna Gharti-Chhetri
Ingrid Lomfors	Gunilla Blomqvist	Senthil Ram	Asoke Bhattacharya
Stellan Vinthagen	Basia Bless	Ferdinando Sardella	Shanti Nandana Wijesinghe
Dhammika Herath

From SASNET, Lund University:
Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund