SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Newsletter 18:

6 September 2002

SASNET News:

• Board meeting on 27 August
The SASNET board had its second meeting for 2002 on 27 August. The board approved the distribution of planning grants, which had been decided upon by the Reference group earlier the same day. Minutes available as a pdf document.

• Planning Grants distributed to 10 projects/programmes
A total number of 26 applications for programmes/projects were delivered for consideration in the latest round for SASNET planning grants. Ten projects, eight related to research and two for education, were selected by the SASNET Reference group (consisting of three eminent Nordic South Asia scholars) to receive grants. The total amount distributed was 700 000 SEK.
See the full list of the projects which were given SASNET grants this time, and in the earlier rounds.

• Announcement for new planning grants
The next round of SASNET Planning and Networking grants is hereby announced. Last date for applications is Friday 15 November, 2002. More information.

• PhD Symposium in October, last date for applications
Last date for applications to take part in the SASNET symposium for Swedish PhD students and post-docs engaged in research related to South Asia is Monday 16 September. The symposium will take place on 25–27 October 2002, at Marstrands Varmbadhus, north of Göteborg, and will be devoted to discuss the situation of PhD students in South Asian Studies or South Asia relevant studies (recruitment, fieldwork, supervision, finishing, post-doc situation). Full details on the symposium.

• SASNET represented at Heidelberg conference
SASNET’s Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund will both be present at the 17th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, a highlight for European South Asia researchers, which takes place at Heidelberg, Germany, 9–14 September, 2002. The full list of panels can be seen on the conference home page (http://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/ecmsa/index.html), and abstracts of some papers are available. Professor Lindberg takes part in Panel no 10, on Rural Development in South Asia, where he will present a paper on ”Indian Agriculture in the 1990s”.

• SASNET lecture on Hindutva
Professor Dipak Malik from the Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, has been invited by SASNET to hold a lecture on ”Hindutva then and now: A profile of Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya”, at Lund University, Friday 20 September, 14–16. Venue: Room 215, Dept of History of Religions, Allhelgona Kyrkogata.

• SASNET lecture on South Asian regional stability
Professor Bhupinder Brar from Dept of Political Science, University of Punjab, Chandigarh, India, has been invited by SASNET to lecture on ”Stability and Security in South Asia: Towards a Post-Nationalist Perspective”, at Lund University, Wednesday 9 October, 13–15. Venue: Dept of Sociology, Conference room 1, Paradisgatan 5.

Community News:

• Honorary doctorate to Om Prakash Sharma
Karlstad University will confer an honorary doctor’s degree to Mr Om Prakash Sharma, co-ordinator for the Swedish Study Centre in Varanasi, India, at a function in Karlstad on 20 September, 2002. Om Prakash Sharma has been instrumental in building up Karlstad University’s study centre in India since 1997, and has also through long-standing relations with eminent International scholars in the field of Anthropology and History of Religions been able to assist Swedish students and researchers during their field work in India. Read Lars Eklund’s recent report from Varanasi.

• Dissertation on Indian influences on Swedish poetry
Olavi Hemmilä from the Dept of Comparative Literature, Högskolan Dalarna, defends his PhD thesis on ”A Yogi Comes to Town: Indian religious thinking as reflected in Swedish fiction with special focus on the works of Dan Andersson”, on Saturday 14 september, 2002, at 13.00, at the Dept of General and Comparative Literature, Stockholm University (where the dissertation has been made). Venue: Hörsal D8, Södra Huset, Frescati, Universitetsv 10 E. More information on Hemmilä’s research.

• Licentiate thesis on Sword beans seeds
Sagarika Ekanayake from the Dept of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund Institute of Technology, defended her Licentiate thesis on 29 August, 2002. The thesis deals with ”Chemical and nutritional evaluation of Canavalia gladiata seeds with emphasis on effect of processing on protein nutritional value”. Canavallia is the same as Sword beans, a common vegetable in Sri Lanka.

Conferences and courses

• A conference on ”Gender, Citizenship and Governance” is held 15–17 October, 2002, at Cochin, Kerala, India. It is organised by the Dutch Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in collaboration with 15 organizations from Southern Africa and South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The participating organizations represent women's activists groups, non governmental organizations, research centres and cooperatives, and the aim is to build international support for gender equitable governance.

• A conference on ”Developing Countries and the Network Revolution: Leapfrogging ormMarginalization?” is arranged by Norsk forening for utviklingsforskning, in collaboration with the Development Studies and Collaboration Initiative, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, 14-15 november, 2002. More information.

• An International Conference on ”Business – Social Partnership: Beyond Philanthropy” is arranged in Kolkata, India, 4–7 December, 2002. The conference is held by the Indian Institute of Management, at its campus on Diamond Harbour Road, Joka, Kolkata. More information.

• A workshop on ”Modern adaptations of Sufi-based popular Islam: Concepts, practices and movements in a translocal perspective” is held at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin, 14–15 December, 2002. The workshop includes studies on the Sufi reformist movements in Pakistan. More information.

• The Sixth International Conference on Dowry, Bride-Burning and Son-Preference is held 3–6 January, 2003, at New Delhi, India. The conference is arranged by the Gender & Religions Research Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; and the International Society against Dowry and Bride Burning in India (ISADABBI). More information.

• The International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) arranges its 15th Congress on the theme ”Humankind/Nature Interaction: Past, Present, and Future”, 5–12 July, 2003, at Florence, Italy. More information on IUAES web site with its wonderful introductory page, do not miss it!. A large number of the sessions will be devoted to South Asia.

Important lectures and workshops

• Globalakademin invites to a new series of workshops and lectures
in the Fall 2002. The theme of the first lecture, on Wednesday 11 September, is what the Swedish parliamentary parties want to do for global development, and how they mean that the goals of the so called Millennium Development should be realised. Venue: Sidas stora hörsal, Sveavägen 20, Stockholm. More information on Globalakademin.

Working papers on South Asia available on the Internet

• The Stockholm International Water Institute
organized the World Water Week 11–17 August, 2002, with several seminars and workshops connected to South Asia. Dr Arunachalam Rajagopal, SaciWATERs, Hyderabad, India, delivered a lecture on ”Link to Downstream Aquaculture”, as part of a seminar on ”Balancing Human Security and Ecological Security Interests in a Catchment – Towards Upstream/Downstream Hydrosolidarity”. The paper is available though SASNET (as a pdf-file).

News on courses and education

• South Asia related courses at Dept of Theology, Lund University
– at History of Religion a 5-credit course is held on ”Yoga and Meditation in Indian religions”, a 5-credit course on ”Non-Violence and Vegetarianism – Jainism and its influence on Indian religion and politics”, and a 5 credit course on ”Religions along the Silk Route” in the Fall 2002.
– at Islamology a 5-credit course is held on Sufism – Islamic Mysticism (tought in English), in the Fall 2002.
– at Psychology of Religion 5 credits part time Internet based course is held on ”The Psychology of Meditation”, starting from descriptive studies on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, in the Fall 2002.

• Swedish students welcome to course at Copenhagen University
The Dept of Asian Studies (Asien-Instituttet) at the University of Copenhagen offers a 15 credits course on ”Politics of Representation: Methodology and Ideology in South Asian Studies”, in the Fall 2002. The course, led by PhD Christian K Wedemeyer, is taught in English. Swedish students are welcome to join the course which starts on 3 September. More information on the course.

Library Resources

• South Asian literature available through the International Library
The International Library in Stockholm is a unique service to lend books written in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Sinhalese, Tamil, Gujarati, and other South Asian languages. Besides a public lending-library at Odengatan 59, with a collection of more than 200 000 books, the International Library also offers Interlibrary loans through Public libraries within as well as outside Sweden.

• India Cyber Anthropology Project – ICPAT
The India Cyber Anthropology Project was an ambitious collection of Internet resources, made by two Belgian anthropology students connected to the University of Leuven. Some pages were of utmost interest, e g on the International work against Dowry Abuse, with links to research papers, seminars, etc. Unfortunately the pages on Dowry related violence in India was taken away from the web site in September 2002.

New and updated items on SASNET web site

• Web page on South Asian Culture in Scandinavia
The many links to sub-pages on South Asian culture, which till now have been listed under the News and Information page, have been collected on a page of ots own – http://www.sasnet.lu.se/culture.html. Here news on current cultural events in Scandinavia, connected to South Asia, are given, as well as links to pages presenting Swedish artists performing South Asian dance and music; Concerts by South Asian artists touring Scandinavia; Documentary films for sale on South Asia; Journals, magazines and other news media on South Asia; and Distributors of South Asia related literature.

• 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 more than 60 departments. Go to the presentation page.

ƒ Dept of Electric Power Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg
ƒ Dept of Comparative Literature, at Högskolan Dalarna, Campus Falun
ƒ Dept of Oceanography, Earth Sciences Centre, Göteborg University
ƒ Religious Studies, Dept of Humanities and Social Science, at Kristianstad University College
ƒ Division of Industrial Ergonomics, Department of Human Work Sciences, at Luleå College of Technology
ƒ School of Business, at Stockholm University

Cultural Events connected to South Asia in Scandinavia

• Tagore programme at Nobel Museum
The Nobel Museum in Stockholm arranges a programme on the Indian author/poet, and Nobel laureate 1913, Rabindranath Tagore, on Thursday 31 October, 2002, 19.00. P O Henricson lectures on Tagore’s life, and Bubu Munshi-Eklund sings his compositions in the original language Bengali. The museum, located in Börshuset at Stortorget in Gamla Stan, also presents Tagore in its exhibitions, and through a film and an exhibition catalogue in several languages. More information on the Nobel Museum.

• Mela 2002 – Pakistani Cultural Festival in Oslo
A major manifestation on Pakistani culture is taking place in Oslo, Norway 6–8 September. A large number of famous artists in the fields of music and dance (e g the legenday Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui) will perform at stages around in the Norwegian capital, and there will also be exhibitions of handicrafts and fashion design. The most renowned Pakistani theatre ensemble Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop from Lahore also presents a show called ”The Magic Paintbrush”. Full details on the Mela programme, at http://www.mela2002.com/

• Dance performances by Abhinaya
The Swedish group Abhinaya, consisting of Ulrika Pettersson and Anna Bolmström, both trained Bharata Natyam and Odissi dancers, performs at Flamenci Center, Dalatrappan 2, Stockholm, on 6–7 September, at 19.00. More information on Abhinaya’s web page.

Ulrika Pettersson also gives separate performances, with Odissi, at Uppsala Cultural night, on the 14 September. She will perform at UNT, foajén, Danmarksgatan 28, at 18.00; at Missionskyrkan, S:t Olofsgatan 40, at 20.00; and at Kafé Uroxen, S:t Johannesgatan 18, at 22.00.

• Asian Comments festival in Copenhagen
The Danish Center for Culture and Development is in charge of the cultural program Asian Comments, which takes place 19–21 September, 2002, in Copenhagen, as a prelude to the 4th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 4) with the participation of Asian and European heads of state and government. Asian Comments is the first phase in Denmark's particular focus on Asian art and culture, culminating with the national festival Images of Asia in August-September 2003. Note that South Asia plays only a marginal role in these programs and activities, which is mainly devoted to the 10 so called ASEM countries.

 Best regards

     Staffan Lindberg           Lars Eklund

SASNET/ Swedish South Asian Studies Network

SASNET is a national network for research, education, and information about South Asia, based at Lund University. The aim is to encourage and promote an open and dynamic networking process, in which Swedish researchers co-operate with researchers in South Asia and globally.
The network is open to all sciences. Priority is given to co-operation between disciplines and across faculties, as well as institutions in the Nordic countries and in South Asia. The basic idea is that South Asian studies will be most fruitfully pursued in co-operation between researchers, working in different institutions with a solid base in their mother disciplines.
The network is financed by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and by Lund University.

Postal address: SASNET – Swedish South Asian Studies Network, International Office,
Lund University, P O Box 117, S-221 00 Lund
Visiting address: Gamla Kirurgen, Sandgatan 3, first floor, room no. 230
Phone: + 46 46 222 73 40
Fax: + 46 46 222 96 65
E-mail: sasnet@sasnet.lu.se
Web site: http://www.sasnet.lu.se
Our office is manned weekdays 9-17, and open to visitors.

Staff: Staffan Lindberg, director/co-ordinator &
           Lars Eklund, webmaster/programme secretary