SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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NoFSA-NET, Nordic Forum for South Asia:

Background: NoFSA-NET, Nordic Forum for South Asia (formerly Norwegian Forum for South Asia) is a non-partisian, apolitical mailing-list whose goal is to inform members about current events of potential interest to people who deal with South Asia in some capacity (e g students, volunteer organizations, journalists, etc.) in the Nordic region. NoFSA-NET works in close collaboration with SASNET, the Swedish South Asian Studies Network.

NoFSA-NET was established by South Asia scholars at the University of Oslo in 1996. The list manager is Ram Gupta, at the Student Information Centre, Faculty of Arts, Oslo University. The list service has since the start been hosted by the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at University of Oslo.

In the beginning of November, 2002, there were 232 members on the list, most of them in Norway, though with several members also in Sweden and Denmark. There were members in other countries as well, e g in South Asia, North America, and Europe. In order to reflect this gradually developing Pan-Scandinavia profile, the NoFSA board decided that the official name of the list should be changed into Nordic Forum for South Asia.

The network is coordinated by PhD Candidate Kenneth Bo Nielsen at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM). He is assisted by a board with representatives from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The ambition is to encourage South Asianists from all the Nordic countries to contribute more actively to the networking activities.

On 29 October 2010, a new board was constituted for NoFSA. Besides Kenneth Bo Nielsen, it consists of Ram Gupta, Dept. of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Norway (in charge of NoFSA’s web page); Uwe Skoda, Institute of History and Area Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark; Lars Eklund, SASNET, Lund University, Sweden; and Sirpa Tenhunen, Dept. of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki, Finland.

How to join NoFSA-NET?: NoFSA's aim has all the time been to connect people in a network organisation linking dispersed Norwegian and later on Nordic South Asia resources within research, culture, business, public administration, NGOs, the media etc. The idea is to help these communities draw on each other´s experience and expertise. Therefore NoFSA welcomes anyone with a professional interest in South Asia to join this informal e-mail discussion group. Membership is free.
To join NoFSA-NET you just send an e-mail request to nofsa-contact@ikos.uio.no, stating your interest to join the group.

Rules and principles for the mailing-list:
• Only members of the list can post messages, to nofsa-net@ikos.uio.no.
• Since postings are not screened by a moderator, the members must abide by the Rules, which are found at http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/research/network/nofsa/nofsa-net/
• Basically, people are free to post anything they like, as long as it's South Asia related. Up till now, postings have mostly been adverts for events, and occasionally queries.
• The term ”events” covers a wide range of phenomena: Announcements of concerts, lectures, seminars; film showings; film reviews of South Asian films; publication of books, articles and newspaper articles by Nordic researchers and writers; newspaper articles dealing with South Asia which appear in Nordic newspapers, or in the international press (with URL, if possible); etc. An event can also be a debate which takes place among members who belong to the list. The list develops gradually so new directions are possible.
– New members are asked to send a brief self-presentation to the list
– NOFSA-NET is for South Asia related issues only, and is managed by a list manager appointed by the board of NoFSA
– Only subscribers can post messages to NoFSA-NET
– NoFSA-NET is unmoderated and uncensored. No one checks what you send to the list. You are therefore alone responsible for observing good netiquette. Keep in mind that when you send messages of marginal interest you reduce the quality of the list. Other members may wish unsubscribe for this reason
– Out of consideration for list members who have slow Internet connections, please do not send attachments! Also, attachments take up disc space.
– Kindly avoid sending copies of newspaper clippings etc in extenso and un-edited. If you refer to a news article, include comments that introduce and contextualise. Instead of copying text straight into your e-mail message, it`s best to refer to a web page when possible
– Always sign your name at the end of a message
– List Manager reserves the right to take you off the list at any time

List Archive: All postings to NoFSA-NET are automatically recorded in a searchable list archive. The archive contains postings from March 2004 till today. To enter the list archive, follow the links: https://sympa.uio.no/sum.uio.no/arc/asianettverket (for postings 2004-2010), or https://sympa.uio.no/sum.uio.no/arc/nofsa-nett (for postings from January 2010). Only members have access to the archives, and have to log in.

Unsubscribe and user subscription management:
mailto:sympa@sum.uio.no?subject=subscribe%20nofsa-nett

NOFSA is now also on facebook! The list server NOFSA-nett will remain the most important channel for sharing news and information on matters South Asian, but the facebook group offers an extra opportunity to advertise South Asia related events; to start more extensive discussions; to upload and share with fellow members a moderate amount of photos; and to post news on the group's wall. Go for the Facebook Group.