SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Lund 5 April 2005

By Staffan Lindberg, director and coordinator & Lars Eklund, webmaster/programme secretary

1. Introduction and summary

2. Organisation

2.1 SASNET’s new board
2.2 Driving force
2.3 Gateway

3. Networking activities

3.1 Interacting with students, researchers and teachers
3.2 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies
3.3 Newsletters
3.4 Planning and networking grants 2004
3.5 Courses and institution building
3.6 Working with Ph.D. students and supervisors
3.7 Media
3.8 Root node public activities
3.9 Interaction with state agencies
3.10 Interaction with ambassadors
3.11 Other activities

4. Enclosures delivered along with the printed work report (as pdf-files):

Appendix 1: Budget for 2004
Appendix 2: Utfallsrapport för jan – dec 2004
Appendix 3: Budget for 2005
Appendix 4: Staffan Lindberg’s individual activities 2004
Appendix 5: Lars Eklund’s individual activities 2004
Appendix 6: Minutes from SASNET’s board meeting, August 26, 2003
Appendix 8: Minutes from SASNET’s board meeting, February 3, 2004
Appendix 9: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, August 24, 2004
Appendix 10: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, February 15, 2005

1. Introduction and summary

During 2004 we continued to network with old and new partners in order to sustain already established activities and to start new ones. The work follows the original plan drawn up for SASNET in October 2000 and subsequent plans made by the various board meetings. The board meetings on 26 August 2003 and on 3 February 2004 gave more precise directions.

During 2004 SASNET concentrated on:

• organising the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Lund University 6–9 July 2004
• further development of SASNET’s Internet Gateway by mastering new programming techniques and continuous updating
• funding and supporting the planning of 10 new research and education projects across Sweden
• interaction over the Internet and via telephone with a large number of Swedish and South Asian students and scholars, providing information and contacts
• a new attempt to organise a Nordic Research School for South Asia, SARTrain, which has in early 2005 been selected by the European Commission for a second round of applications due on 26 April 2005
• further development of the Öresund Network of Asian Studies with its inauguration at Copenhagen University on 14 September 2004
• assisting the continued organisation of the Masters Programme in Asian Studies at Lund University
• continued organisation of an undergraduate programme in South Asian Studies at Österlen’s Folk High School
• interaction with Sida’s Asia division (in Stockholm and at New Delhi Embassy) about a new Swedish India policy through meetings and consultations
• interaction about Swedish trade and business development in relation to India with the Asia division at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• interaction with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education about the future of South Asian studies in Sweden
• interaction with the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University about joint seminars
• interaction with researchers in the Dept. of History of Religions, Lund University and the Faculty of the Humanities about a new professorship in Indian religions
• interaction with the ambassador of Pakistan about a Pakistani study programme in Sweden
• organisation of lectures and seminars at Lund University

Our expenses were according to the budget approved by the board on 3 February and 24 August 2004. From 2004 there is a surplus of SEK 150 000, which can be used during 2005. See Appendix 1: Budget for 2004, and Appendix 2: Utfallsrapport för jan – dec 2004. The budget for the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies proved correct and from this there was a surplus of 68 000 (included in the above overall surplus). We have made a special report from the conference including the accounts and sent to the research councils which sponsored the conference. Extensive information about the conference can be found on: http://www.sasnet.lu.se/EASAS18.html

With these activities and results, we believe that we have reached the targets set for 2004. We also feel that the networking activities have helped us develop our ideas about what SASNET is and ought to be.

The results so far have mainly been a strengthening of the resource base and the interaction among researchers and Ph.D. students, making them more self-confident, helping them make better applications for research grants, etc. We feel that we are on the way to building a strong intellectual and social community of South Asia scholars in Sweden. We have also begun to recruit new students at the undergraduate and master’s level, which is a pre-condition for the recruitment of new Ph.D. students later on.

Plans for 2005

On 15 February 2005 the board set the agenda for SASNET’s activities in 2005 (See the Minutes, Appendix 9).
The main objectives should be to promote existing higher education and research programmes related to South Asia, and to take initiatives to new ones. SASNET should promote more student/teacher/researcher exchange between Sweden and South Asian universities, including the signing of formal MOU’s between partners that develop specific exchange and co-operation programmes.

More specifically SASNET’s objectives are to:

• Improve the Internet Gateway with information about news lists, discussion groups, and research in fields that are strong in the Nordic countries.
• Follow up the projects that receive SASNET’s planning grants.
• Make SASNET’s name visible in all possible ways including organising or co-organising events in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki.
• Start new undergraduate and graduate courses related to South Asia.
• Work with the development of PhD programmes including so called sandwich programmes, doctoral courses, summer courses, etc.
• Promote the invitation of researchers and guest lecturers from South Asia to visit Sweden and the other Nordic countries.
• Promote co-operation in the universities for more courses, positions and funds related to South Asian studies, and for the development of South Asian Studies Centres
• Network more with government agencies, public bodies, NGOs and business.
• Work with all the countries in South Asia, but give some extra attention to Afghanistan and Nepal

2. Organisation

2.1 SASNET’s new board

On 13 November 2003, the Vice-Chancellor of Lund University appointed SASNET’s board for the period 2004 – 2006. For the new board members, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/organisation.html. Professor Björn Hettne, PADRIGU, Göteborg University is the chairperson, and Associate Professor Rajni Hatti Kaul, Department of Biotechnology, Lund University is the deputy chairperson. The new board held its first meeting on February 3, 2004 (see Appendix 7). A second board meeting took place on 24 August 2004 (see Appendix 8).

2.2 Driving force

Staffan Lindberg worked as Director and Coordinator (50/50) Besides work at the root node, which is included in this general report, his individual activities related to South Asian studies are reported in Appendix 4. Lars Eklund worked as full-time Webmaster and Programme Secretary. Besides work at the root node, which is included in the general report, his individual activities related to South Asian studies are reported in Appendix 5.

Jan Magnusson worked full time as Study director of the Masters Programme in Asian Studies, and also worked in close cooperation with the SASNET root node.

Boel Billgren, deputy head of the International Office coordinated the organisational efforts on behalf of SASNET. A number of other persons, including Mr. Lars Magnusson, Anders Odeskog, Birgitta Hansson, and Birgitta Devlin at the International Office generously assisted SASNET with their services of administration, data operations, and language editing. Likewise, Karin Andersson and Anita Nilsson at UPV, Lund University were of great assistance to us. SASNET also received support from the Department of Sociology (providing free office space for Staffan Lindberg, allowing us to use their lecture halls and conference rooms, and helping with photocopying, etc.). We also received generous support from the Office for Continuing and Distance Education headed by Mr. Lennart Badersten, which has supplied computer hardware to SASNET and financed a new search engine for the Internet Gateway.

In November 2003, SASNET moved its office to the Centre for East- and South-East Asian Studies (ACE). SASNET is still attached to the International Office, from where the economy administration is handled. We rent office space and buy some administrative services from ACE.

2.3 Gateway

The Internet Gateway is now established as a reliable and thorough source of information for students, researchers and other persons interested in South Asian studies. It has received worldwide attention and recognition for its wealth of useful information. In the beginning of April 2005 it has had more than 37 000 visitors since 5 August 2001 when it was originally launched. Since this is SASNET's main tool of communication a lot of time is spent updating and developing its content. New information is added on a daily basis, and the work is done on a journalistic basis.

3. Networking Activities

3.1 Interacting with students, researchers and teachers

During 2004 we interacted with a large number of researchers, teachers and students by the exchanging e-mails and telephone calls. In all these contacts we used our Internet Gateway as a source of information.

During the same period we met several partners (including those documented in Appendices 4 and 5).

3.2 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies

The main task and engagement of this year was of course the organisation of the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies at Lund University, 6-9 July. For a detailed report, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/EASAS18.html.

We had created an effective conference organisation with a conference convenor and four co-convenors (Lars Eklund, Jan Magnusson, Elna Andersson and Sidsel Hansson) and we were assisted by 15 students, who worked before and during the conference with the packing of conference material, the secretariat, the technical equipment, the venues, the computer hall, etc.
We used centrally placed venues like the Academic society and the Department of Sociology. Lund University offered a reception at the beginning of the conference.

The conference had a total budget of SEK 1 620 000 and was sponsored by Lund University, Sida SAREC, Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, Crafoord Foundation and the Norwegian Research Council. Due to the generous funding we could finance travel grants and board and lodging for 47 persons, including 23 young researchers from South Asia, who had been selected in a competition where they sent their paper for evaluation by a committee at Lund University.

There were 356 registered participants and 385 papers in 44 different panels. More than 100 of the papers are published on the home page of the conference. Besides, there was also a great many unregistered visitors who came to one or more of the seminars and plenary sessions. This was the biggest ever European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies and the first one that was fully operated via Internet (with everything published on the Internet). A participant wrote a diary from the conference which is published on the home page (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/conferencediary.pdf) and a journalist covered the daily events with comments and pictures (see http://homepage.mac.com/lars_eklund/).

After the conference we have received many letters and messages from satisfied participants.

Return to modernism?
The conference was also a conscious effort to promote utilitarian goals in research and inter-disciplinary cooperation especially with medicine, technology and natural sciences. One panel was on health and social development and was lead by prof. Zulfiqar Bhutta from Aga Khan Medical University, Karachi. Another panel dealt with technology and environmental problems and was lead by prof. Gunnar Jacks from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Ethnic and cultural relations
The Key Note Address was given by Prof. Dipankar Gupta, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi who spoke on the topic ”Democratic Potentials in Cultural Politics: Caste Based Reservations and the Issue of Citizenship.” The lecture gave rise to a lively debate.

Poverty and social development
One sub-theme for the conference was ”Poverty and Human Development – Challenges before the state, market and civil society in the era of post-modernism.” A plenary session led by Dr. Alia Ahmad, Lund University with the following speakers:

• Prof. Ghyansham Shah, Ahmedabad: ”Growth, Poverty and Human Development in India”
• Prof. Zulfiqar Bhutta, Aga Khan University, Karachi: ”Poverty and Ill-Health. Challenges, Initiatives and Issues in Pakistan” (prepared together with Inayat Thaver, Dept. for International Development, UK)
• Dr. Meera Nanda, Hartford, Connecticu: ”Manu’s Children: Vedic Science, Hindutva and Postmodernism”

These lectures gave rise to a lively debate, which is recorded on the homepage of the conference.

3.3 Newsletters

SASNET distributes newsletters and updates the Internet Gateway on a daily basis. The distribution list presently contains 910 e-mail addresses.

Dates for the publication of our newsletters during 2004 were:

• Newsletter 35. January, 27, 2004

• Newsletter 36. February, 17, 2004

• Newsletter 37. March, 10, 2004

• Newsletter 38. April 15, 2004

• Newsletter 39. May, 11, 2004

• Newsletter 40. June, 15, 2004

• Newsletter 41. July, 15, 2004

• Newsletter 42. August, 27, 2004

• Newsletter 43. September, 17, 2004

• Newsletter 44. October, 5, 2004

• Newsletter 45. November, 3, 2004

• Newsletter 46. November, 25, 2004

• Newsletter 47. December, 23, 2004

• Tsunami Newsletter. December, 30, 2004

All the newsletters can be found on the following site: http://www.sasnet.lu.se/sasnetf.html.
They represent a detailed archive of all major activities in SASNET during the year with links to relevant documents and homepages.

3.4 Planning and Networking Grants 2004

The reference group, consisting of Prof. Pamela Price (Department of History, Oslo University), Dr. Neil Webster (Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen), and Dr. Malin Åkerblom (International Science Programme, Uppsala), decided to approve grants to the following persons, projects and programmes (http://www.sasnet.lu.se/grants.html):

Decisions made on 24 August 2004

Planning grants for continued research projects/programmes:

• Baboo Nair, Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University: ”Networking grant for further development and strengthening of the SASNETWORK on fermented foods, public health and social well-being formed in Nov-2003 to increase its sustainability.” The committee decided to fund the project with 70 000 SEK
• Lars Åke Persson, International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University. ”Network for Interventions against Maternal-Child Malnutrition in South Asia.” The committee decided to fund the project with 30 000 SEK

Planning grants for research programmes/projects:

• Joyanto Routh, Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University: “Environmental and long-term pitfalls of human induced changes in lake ecosystems: A case study of the Kumaun Lakes in NE India.” The committee decided to fund the project with 65 000 SEK
• Aida Aragão-Lagergren, Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University: “Children ‘left behind’. A study on children of migrant women in Sri Lanka.” The committee decided to fund the project with 75 000 SEK
• Mirja Juntunen, Department of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University: “The Buddhist-Modernist Thinker Rahul Sankrtyayan and his Influence on Contemporary Indian Writing.” The committee decided to fund the project with 65 000 SEK
• Amir Mansory, Institute of International Education, Stockholm University: Opportunities and Obstacles for Girls’ Education in Rural Afghanistan a project including capacity development of Afghan Educators.” The committee decided to fund the project with 63 000 SEK

Planning grants for educational projects:

• Gunnel Cederlöf, Department of History and Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University: ”Environmental History as an Emerging Field of Education and Research.” The committee decided to fund the project with 75 000 SEK
• Stellan Vinthagen, Department of Peace and Development Research- Padrigu, Göteborg University: “Padrigu – Madras University collaborative education project to develop ‘Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies’ in India.” The committee decided to fund the project with 75 000 SEK
• Nils-Axel Mörner, Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics, Stockholm University: “Research and Education in the Maldives regarding sea level changes, island evolution and reef ecology.” The committee decided to fund the project with 25 000 SEK
• Peter Schalk, Department of History of Religions, Uppsala University: “Introduction of Modern Research Methods and Theories within the field of humanities in the University of Yalppanam.” The committee decided to fund the project with 50 000 SEK

3.5 Courses and institution building

A second Masters Programme in Asian Studies at Lund University started on 1 September 2004. The South Asian studies’ track has 15 students and the courses during the fall have been successful. Jan Magnusson is the Director of Studies of the programme, which is based in the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE). The programme was given a planning grant for networking with partners in South Asia. For information about the programme, see http://www.ace.lu.se/

The Masters Programme in South Asian Studies at Uppsala University is continuing, but with less students than in Lund. Compared to the programme in Lund, the emphasis is more on languages. The commitment to develop this programme is very strong among the teachers. There some plans to develop co-ordination between and the Lund and the Uppsala programmes in the future.

We continued to work with a one-year academic undergraduate course about India/South Asia at Österlen’s Folk High School (20 credit points). The teachers come from sociology, human ecology, and anthropology and the programme is now in its third year (see: http://www.osterlen.fhsk.se/sydasien/sydindex.htm).

In late 2003 and early 2004 we took a new initiative to start more undergraduate courses at folk high schools. Teachers were identified in Karlstad, Göteborg, Uppsala and Stockholm and are now discussing how they can realise these intentions.

We also helped teachers and PhD students to organise a section for Indian studies at the Department of History of Religions at Lund University. We were a part in a discussion at the Department of Theology which led to a new chair professorship in Indian religions (announced in December 2003). Unfortunately, during the Spring of 2005, when the committee was ready with its evaluation of the applicants, the University decided to stall the process due to a new policy at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies. It is now uncertain whether the position will actually be realised.

SASNET has been very active in organising co-operation within Øresund Network of Asian Studies, ØRNAST (See http://www.sasnet.lu.se/ornast.html), which is was formally inaugurated on 14 September 2004 at Copenhagen University.

3.6 Working with Ph.D. students and supervisors

In 2003 we were very active in the planning of a Nordic Graduate School in Asian Studies (NorfAsia), organised by Björn Hettne, PADRIGU, and NIAS, Copenhagen. In the end NorFA did not approve the grant proposal (we ended up in 6th position, and only five proposals were approved). The planning should not go to waste, but be used to develop programmes and courses locally at the universities that were involved in the application. See http://www.sasnet.lu.se/norfasia.pdf.

In 2004, Staffan Lindberg participated in the planning of graduate school on South Asia, called SARTrain, which is a cooperation between 8 universities (including South Asia Institute at Heidelberg). In December we submitted an application for a Marie Curie programme with the European Commision, which has in early 2005 been selected by the for a second round of applications due on 26 April 2005.

3.7 Media

We are continuously updating our page called “Recommended reading/listening for South Asia scholars” (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/recreading.html) with new interesting articles. We have also replied to several enquiries from journalists about various South Asia related issues and sources of information.

3.8 Root node public activities

We have organised lectures, seminars, and concerts in Lund. For a full list see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/lundactiv.html.

3.9 Interaction with state agencies

SASNET participated in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ India Seminar on 31 March 2004. See http://www.sasnet.lu.se/indiameet0404.html. He also held meetings on the new Swedish India policy at the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi in January 2005.

SASNET was represented at the Swedish Indian Business Council meeting “the Indian train is speeding ahead” on 4 March 2004. See http://www.sasnet.lu.se/indobuss04.html

3.10 Interaction with ambassadors

During the year we interacted on several occasions with the Ambassador of Pakistan, Shahid A. Kamal about the Pakistan intentions to send 200 Masters students to Sweden annually. In November a Memorandum of Understanding was reached between the Ministry of Education and the Swedish Institute in this regard.

3.11 Other activities

During 2003 we lectured at universities, schools, folk highs schools, teachers’ seminars, etc. (See among others, Appendices 4 and 5)