SASNET: Newsletter 16

• SASNET Advanced Search Engine now working
An advanced search function has been created for SASNET by Netlab at Lund University. It provides for a full text search not only to our own web site, but also to all the pages we link up to, in two steps (at present that means more than 15 000 web pages). Therefore our engine is most useful for searching material specifically connected to South Asia. It is found at http://www.sasnet.lu.se/searchf.html

• SASNET invites Swedish PhD students and post-docs engaged in research related to South Asia for a symposium, on 25–27 October 2002, at Marstrands Varmbadhus, north of Göteborg. The symposium will discuss the situation of PhD students in South Asian Studies or South Asia relevant studies (recruitment, fieldwork, supervision, finishing, post-doc situation), and some experienced supervisors and PhD students will present their views. Teachers and supervisors are kindly requested to spread information about the symposium on to their students, and encourage them to participate. Last date for application: Monday 16 September. Full details on the symposium.

• Plans for a Masters Course in South Asian Studies at Lund University
A Masters Course in South Asian Studies is currently planned by teachers and researchers at Lund University. The work is carried out in a working group, assisted by the SASNET root node at Lund. The course may commence in September 2003. More information from Jan Magnusson, PhD, Dept. of Social Work, who is in charge of the preliminary planning process.

• Visit by representative from the University Grants Commission of India
Dr Tilak R Kem, Additional Secretary at the University Grants Commission of India, visited SASNET and Lund University on Tuesday 4 June, 2002. Dr Kem, previously connected to the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, had come to Sweden as an invited guest to Högskolan Kristianstad, in his capacity of being an expert on distance education. During his visit to Lund, along with Mr Arvid Gisby, Högskolan Kristianstad, SASNET arranged for a fruitful meeting with Lennart Badersten, Head of the Office for Continuing and Distance Education at Lund University, and discussions took place on possible Indo-Swedish cooperation in this field. A proposal was made to arrange a workshop in India later this year.

• Indian Ambassador visited SASNET and Lund University
SASNET hosted the Indian ambassador Ms Chitra Narayanan and the Counsellor Mr Sachdeva when they visited Lund University on 21 May, 2002. Read the report from the visit.

• The history of SASNET presented
A short history of how SASNET was created is now available. Here the planning process and the persons without whom SASNET would not have materialised are presented. Read the history report.

• SASNET office closed in July
Summertime is here, and the SASNET root node staff need some vacation. The office will be closed during the period 8 July–4 August.

• Professorship in South Asian Languages and Cultures at Uppsala University
Applications are now invited for a full professorship in South Asian Languages and Cultures at the Department of Asian and African Languages, Uppsala university, as Professor Gunilla Gren-Eklund is going to retire. Last date for applications: 2 August, 2002. More details.

• New Catalogue on Swedish Resource persons for lectures and seminars
Global Competece is a Sida financed Swedish searchable competence catalogue on the Internet, giving information about resource persons with knowledge about international politics, international relations, and other subjects related to the Global World, available for lectures and seminars. The catalogue is extremely useful for schools and conference organisers. Swedish scholars and researchers on South Asia are invited to report themselves to the catalogue.

• Report on Studying Indian Languages in India and America
Professor Gunilla Gren-Eklund, Dept for African and Asian Languages at Uppsala University; and Stig Toft Madsen, Lecturer, International Development Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark, has written a comprehensive report on Indian language studies. The report is based on experiences from two journeys, one of them a tour visiting educational institutions in Mussorie, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Baroda in India, in November 2001; and the second a tour to institutions in the U.S. in June 2001. The report is available here, as a pdf-file.

• 3 800 applications for research grants from Swedish Research Council
The Swedish Research Council has received 3 800 applications for research grants before the final date in May. The applications regard research projects starting in 2003, and totally 2.400 Million SEK will be distributed for Swedish basic research in all the disciplines. Decisions are taken in November. More information (in Swedish only).

• Decisions on Linnaeus-Palme International Exchange Programmes for 2002–2003
The Swedish International Programme Office for Education and Training decided upon the applications for Linnaeus-Palme International Exchange Programmes, for the period 2002–2003, in the end of May, 2002. A total amount of 18.4 Million Swedish Kronor were distributed to 146 different projects, out of which 18 relate to South Asia. SASNET presents a list of these.

• Plans for International Research network connected to the Third World Forum
The Scientific council of the Think tank Agora, based at Stockholm, calls for a meeting on Swedish participation in an International Research network connected to the Third World Forum, one of the initiators to the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre. The meeting will be held on Wednesday 12 June, at 18.00, at Agora´s office, Drottningatan 83, Stockholm. More information through Ursula Berge, Agora.

• Research projects on South Asia religions presented in Uppsala
A Presentation of Ongoing South Asia related projects at the Dept of History of Religions at Uppsala University was given on Monday 3 June. Three research projects performed in collaboration with several European researchers and university departments were presented. More information.

• Doctoral thesis on Educated Elite People in New Delhi
Anne Waldrop, at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, (and co-director of the Nordic Centre in New Delhi as well), will defend her doctoral thesis on ”A Room with One´s Own. Educated Elite People in New Delhi and Relations of Class” on Friday 21 June, 2002, at 10.15. Faculty opponents: Prof. Patricia Jeffery, University of Edinburgh, and Prof. Bruce Kapferer, University of Bergen. Venue: Auditorium 2, Georg Sverdrups hus (Universitetsbiblioteket). The thesis concerns the educated elite in New Delhi, with particular reference to the way they sustain their privileged class position.

• An International Symposium on Kautilya's ancient work Arthashastra will be held at the Oriental Research Institute, Mysore, India 13–16 June, 2002. The Symposium is being held to commemorate the centennary of the first-ever discovery of the complete manuscript of the Arthashatra by the Institute. Neelambar Hatti from Dept of Economic History, Lund University will be the convenor for the English-speaking participants and their papers, which to a great extent will relate to Kautilya's political, social and economic thoughts and their relevance today.

• A conference on ”Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development: Research and Policy Challenges” is organised by the Norwegian Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (NTFESSD), on Tuesday 18 June, 08.30–16.30, at the University Library in Oslo (Auditorium 2, Georg Sverdrups Hus).

• The 8th International interdisciplinary congress on Women, with the theme ”Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challenges” is organised 23–26 July, 2002, by the Dept. of Women and Gender Studies, at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

• The 5th International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine is held 18–24 August, 2002, at Martin-Luther-Universität in Halle in Germany. More details.

• The 7th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) is held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 14-17 August, 2002. The theme for the conference is ”Engaging the World: Theoretical, methodological and political challenges for a 21st century anthropology”. The conference is hosted by the Institute for Anthropology at Copenhagen University.

• A Workshop on ”Common-pool Resources and Institutions” takes place in Mysore, India, 27–29 August, 2002. The Workshop is organized by Lund University, and the Centre for Advanced Research in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (CARIKS) at Mysore. More information from Alia Ahmad, Dept. of Economics, or Neelambar Hatti, Dept. of Economic History, both at Lund University.

• The Seventh International Metropolis Conference will take place at Oslo on 9–13 September, 2002. The theme for the conference will be: ”Togetherness in Difference: Citizenship and Belonging”. The conference is organised by IMER (International Migration and Ethnic Relations) programme at Bergen University. More information on Metropolis Norway 2002.

• 17th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies , a highlight for European South Asia researchers takes place at Heidelberg, Germany, on 9–14 September, 2002. The full list of panels can be seen on the conference home page, and abstracts of some papers are available.

• The 10th General Conference of European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, EADI, with the theme ”EU Enlargement in a Changing World – Challenges for Development Co-operation in the 21st Century” is arranged 19–21 September, 2002, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The programme, along with its themes and sessions, is published on the EADI website.

• The 8th Himalayan Languages Symposium will take place at the University of Berne in Switzerland, 19–22 September, 2002. The symposium will be hosted by the Institute of Linguistics, Section of Comparative Linguistics, and its director, Prof. Roland Bielmeier. The symposium brings together scholars working on languages and language communities of the greater Himalayan region, i e north-western and north-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Tibetan plateau; northern Burma and Sichuan; and Nuristan, Baltistan and the Burushaski-speaking area in the west. Abstracts for presentations from all fields of linguistics are invited.

• A PhD researcher training course with the theme ”Twilight Institutions and Local Politics in Developing Societies” is offered 24–27 September 2002. The course is organised by the Graduate School of International Development Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark. Venue: Hotel Romantik at Bornholm. More information.

• The Second World Conference on Music and Censorship is organised by Freemuse – Freedom of Music Expression at Copenhagen, 28–29 September, 2002. A full session on 29 September is dedicated to the issue of Afghanistan, with several invited musicians from Afghanistan. A parallel session on ”The future of Afghan music” will be held within the premises on the first day of the conference. In another session named ”The Logic Behind Music Censorship” PhD Jonas Otterbäck, from the Dept of International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Malmö University, will lecture on “Music as a useless activity. Music and Sinful Living: Music and Passion; Music and Cultural Imperialism. The logic behind conservative interpretations of music in Islam”. Venue for the conference: World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe, Scherfigsvej 8, Copenhagen. More information.

• A Symposium on Central Asia, including Afghanistan, will be arranged by the Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, at Carsten Niebuhr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in the second week of October 2002.

• A two days undergraduate conference on South Asian Studies is arranged by the Committee on the Enhancement of South Asian Studies at Loyola University, Chicago, USA, 26–27 October, 2002, at the University's Lake Shore Campus. Undergraduates, recent college graduates, and first year graduate students are invited to submit abstracts of about 250 words to the Committee for consideration. For further information contact Prof Vincent Mahler in the Dept of Political Science, Loyola University.

• The Second South Asia Water Forum is arranged by the Global Water Partnership South Asia, at Islamabad, Pakistan, 17–19 December, 2002.

• A Classical Tamil Winter School is organised by the Centre of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in Pondicherry, India, 20 January–15 February, 2003, with the collaboration of Eva Wilden, Hamburg University. The participants will get a basic knowledge of modern Tamil or another Dravidian language.

• A global conference on Mountain Ecotourism will be held at at Namche Bazaar, Khumbu, Nepal, on 24–26 May, 2003. The conference is arranged by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation of Nepal, in collaboration with Bridges-PRTD (Projects in Rational Tourism Development), and the Laboratory of Geoecology, Hokkaido University, Japan.

• A special Seminar on ”the India-Pakistan Tensions: Root Causes and Consequences” is organised at The Center for Pacific Asia Studies, CPAS, Stockholm University, on Wednesday 12 June, 14.00–16.00. The seminar is led by Ass Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed from the Dept of Political Science, Stockholm University, and Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh, Senior Research Fellow at CPAS. Venue: Aulan, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 4, 2F (top floor). For more information contact CPAS.

• Professor Annette Wilke from Münster University, Germany, held a seminar on ”The Taming of Wild Goddesses in Hinduism”, at Uppsala University on 4 June. She was invited by the Dept of History of Religions. More information.

• Anne Kristine Waldrop, Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, holds a lecture on ”Dalit politics, Anthropology and changing meanings of Caste”, on Thursday 20 June, 16.15. This lecture is a part of her dissertation the following day. Venue: Auditorium 2, Georg Sverdrups hus (Universitetsbiblioteket).

• Dr Ananta Kumar Giri from Madras Institute of Development Studies holds a lecture on ”The Vision and Experiments of Integral Education in Contemporary India”, at Lund University, Monday 19 August, 2002, 14-16, Venue: Department of Education, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, room 221.

• A workshop on South Asian Religions is organised by NoFSA at the University of Oslo, Norway, on Saturday 24 August, 2002, 10.00–17.00. Selected participants will be asked to prepare their presentations for later publication in a book, with the title ”South Asian religions and religious life” (in Norwegian only). More information from the editor of the book, Prof. Knut A Jacobsen, Dept of History of Religion, University of Bergen.

• A South Asia Research Network on Gender Law and Governance is going to be launched during the Fall 2002. More information from Shaheen Ali, Professor of Law at University of Warwick, UK (former Minister of Health in Pakistan).

• South Asian studies course at Uppsala University
A second South Asian Studies course with a multidisciplinary approach commences at Uppsala University in September 2002, at the Dept of Asian and African Languages. It is a co-operation project between the departments of the Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University. More information.

• Internet based course in Hindi at Uppsala University
The Dept of Asian and African Languages also introduces a new course in the Fall 2002. It is a special 10 credits Internet based course in Hindi, led by Mirja Juntunen.

• Courses in Development Studies at Lund University
The Dept of Social and Economic Geography at Lund University offers every year courses on Development Studies (U-landskunskap), up to C-level.

• The Re:Orient Music Festival in Stockholm 13–16 June offers a few Indian artists in their programme at Södra Teatern. Baul Bishwa, Hindu sufi musician from West Bengal with group appears on the stage on Saturday 15 June, 19.00; and the Indo-Brittish Bhangra group Saqi appears at Kägelbanan same day at 20.30. More information from the Re:Orient Festival.

• The group Twice a Man from Göteborg has released an India inspired cd ”Agricultural Beauty” in collaboration with the expatriate Swedish writer Zac O´Yeah and his wife, Indian poet Anjum Hasan, both living in Bangalore. More information.

• The 18th Göteborg International Book and Library Fair on 19–22 September, 2002 has few South Asia highlights this year, even though Homi K Bhabha, Professor of English Literature and Cultural Theory, at the University of Chicago is coming and will hold two seminars. Information on the South Asia related activities.

• The page on South Asia related books distributors has grown. Some more quality books distributors have been added, including NIAS Press connected to the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies at Copenhagen. Go for the page.

• A page on New books connected to South Asia research has been added to the site. It does not provide a comprehensive list, though, but only gives some recommendations by ourselves or by other reliable sources, e g the Norwegian NoFSA-net. We also inform about Nordic scholars whose books on South Asia related research have been reviewed in International magazines. Go to the page.

• A page on Recommended reading/listening for South Asia scholars has also been added to the site. There we recommend articles available on the Net which might be of interest to others in the field. Besides our own recommendations we also publish such given by other reliable sources, e g from the Norwegian NoFSA-net. Go to the page.

• More Swedish departments where research on South Asia is going on:
Added to the list of research environments at Swedish universities, presented by SASNET. The full list now includes nearly 60 departments. Go to the presentation page.

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SASNET - Swedish South Asian Studies Network/Lund University
Address: Scheelevägen 15 D, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden
Phone: +46 46 222 73 40
Webmaster: Lars Eklund
Last updated 2011-04-29

SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

Newsletter 16:

11 June 2002

Best regards

Staffan Lindberg Lars Eklund

SASNET/ Swedish South Asian Studies Network