SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Lund 11 April 2008

By Anna Lindberg, director/coordinator & Lars Eklund, webmaster/deputy director

1. Introduction and summary

2. Organisation

2.1 The SASNET board
2.2 Staff and Support from Lund University
2.3 Gateway
2.4 Plans for 2008

3. Networking activities

3.1 Interacting with students, researchers and teachers
3.2 Newsletters
3.3 Planning and networking grants 2007
3.4 Courses and institution building
3.5 Working with Ph.D. students and supervisors
3.6 Media
3.7 Root node public activities
3.8 Interaction with state agencies
3.9 Interaction with ambassadors
3.10 Contact journey to India, and South Asian Reference group meeting

4. SASNET Lund Activities 2007

6. Appendices delivered along with the printed work report (as pdf-files):

Appendix 1: Budget for 2007
Appendix 2: Utfallsrapport för jan – dec 2007
Appendix 3: Budget for 2008
Appendix 4–6: Staffan Lindberg’s, Anna Lindberg’s, and Lars Eklund’s individual activities 2007 
Appendix 7: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, August 29, 2006
Appendix 8: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, January 29, 2007
Appendix 9: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, August 28, 2007
Appendix 10: Minutes from SASNET’s Board meeting, January 29, 2007

1. Introduction and summary

During 2007 we continued to network with old and new partners in order to sustain established activities and 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 29 August 2006 and on 29 January 2007, with the outgoing and the new boards respectively, gave more precise directions.

Major activities during 2007:

• The transfer of the directorship was the most important occurrence during the year. On July 1, 2007, Dr. Anna Lindberg succeeded Prof. Staffan Lindberg. The latter used part of his remaining work time during the second half of 2007 to introduce Anna Lindberg into the work.
• In November, Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund made a contact journey to India, decided upon by the board. The main priority was to introduce SASNET at universities and research institutions in Delhi, Western, and South-Western India. They also organised the first-ever consultative meeting/workshop in Delhi for SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group, consisting of members from five nations.
• In May, Lars Eklund was invited to a conference of 400 international coordinators at universities in Finland. The conference in Seinäjoki included a session about academic collaboration with India from a Nordic perspective, to which Lars had been asked to present the activities of the Swedish South Asian Studies Network, and experiences from Indo-Swedish academic collaboration in general.
• SASNET joined the Sweden India Business Council (SIBC) in order to increase interaction with the business world. A joint SASNET/SIBC seminar titled ”Det nya Indien” was held in Lund on May 23.
• Interaction and meetings with network partners at universities all over Sweden and in the other Nordic countries. Staffan and Lars visited Blekinge Institute of Technology and Kalmar University during the spring. Staffan participated in an Oslo University seminar on India, an EU Forum in Hässleholm, and a TV programme on modern Indian history (Kunskapskanalen, 6 May 2007). SASNET co-organised a two day India seminar during the fall with Roskilde University in Denmark. In September 2007, Anna and Staffan visited and met with researchers at Stockholm University, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and Karolinska Institutet.
• The Swedish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee visited Lund University on October 22. Anna Lindberg was invited to introduce SASNET and some of its activities, and she also spoke on the topic of “The New India: A Trade and Research Nation”.
• Through its involvement with the Masters Programme in Asian Studies (including a South Asia track), SASNET has been actively working to open up Lund University’s Asia Library to include South Asia-related literature (besides its existing collections of literature on East and Southeast Asia). In January 2007, the SASNET board decided to set aside SEK 25 000 to buy and catalogue books on modern South Asian studies for the Asia Library. A number of books from SASNET’s root node office collection (more information) were also donated to the Asia Library.
• In August 2007, the SASNET board also decided to set aside SEK 150 000 from its budget for 2007 to proceed with the cataloguing of books in the Karl Reinhold Haellquist Memorial Collection donated in 2004. The collection consists of of more than 6000 South Asia-related books, journals, videotapes, and pamphlets on various aspects of South Asian studies, and in June 2007 the Crafoord Foundation decided to give SEK 120 000 as a grant to SASNET in order to digitalize Karl Reinhold Haellquist’s private archive – part of the collection.
• SASNET was actively involved in European initiatives to enhance collaboration projects on research and education with India and South Asia. Staffan participated in a meeting organised in Madrid by the the Asia-Europe Alumni Networks, 30 August – 1 September, and three representatives of SASNET (Sidsel Hansson, Per Hilding and Ferdinando Sardella) participated in the European Network on Contemporary Academic Research (Encari) roundtable conference in Brussels on 13 – 14 November. Finally, Lars Eklund participated in a meeting on the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) programme, held in Brussels on 19 December. This programme promotes the exchange of students and researchers from EU member states and targeted ‘Third-countries’. Beginning in 2008, a separate lot is designed to promote collaboration between EU and India, and two other lots involve other South Asian countries.

Additional routine activities:

• Further development of SASNET’s Internet Gateway, providing extensive information about South Asia-related research and education at Swedish universities.
• Funding and supporting the planning of new research and education networking projects across Sweden, including guest lecture programmes and interdisciplinary workshop grants. Nine projects were funded in 2007.
• Interaction over the Internet and by telephone with a large number of Swedish and South Asian students and scholars, providing information and contacts.
• Interaction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Sweden; SIDA’s Asia Division; International Programme Office for Education and Training, and other relevant authorities in Stockholm.
• Interaction with the South Asian embassies in Sweden.
• Organisation of lectures, seminars, and cultural activities at Lund University in collaboration with the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, the Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University, and other partners.
• Continued support for the Masters Programme in Asian Studies at Lund University in collaboration with the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies.
• Continued organisation of an undergraduate programme in South Asian Studies at Österlen’s Folk High School.

Our expenses were in accordance with the budget approved by the Board on 29 January 2007, with a net surplus of SEK 103 000 (see Appendices 1 and 2).

With these activities and results, we believe that we have reached the targets set for 2007.

2. Organisation

2.1 SASNET’s board

On 9 November 2006, Lund University Vice-Chancellor Göran Bexell determined the new composition of SASNET’s Board from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009. For more details, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/organisation.html.

During 2007, the Board held two meetings.

Decisions taken at the Board meeting on 29 January guided most of the activities of SASNET during 2007. For the minutes, see Appendix 8

For 28 August meeting minutes, see Appendix 9 

2.2 Staff and Support from Lund University

Staffan Lindberg worked as Director and Coordinator (50%) until 30 June 2007. 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.

From 1 July 2007, Anna Lindberg worked as Director and Coordinator (50%). Besides work at the root node, which is included in this general report, her individual activities related to South Asian studies are reported in Appendix 5.

Lars Eklund worked as full- time Webmaster and Deputy Director. 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 6.

The Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies and the International Office provided SASNET with administrative support, and Karin Andersson at the Office of Analyses and Projects (UPV), Lund University, assisted SASNET in managing our payments and accounts.
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.).

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.  There are currently about 3 300 visitors per month. Since this is SASNET’s main tool of communication, a lot of time is spent updating and developing its content. New information is added daily, and the work is done in a journalistic way.

2.3 Plans for 2008

On 5 February the Board set the agenda for SASNET’s new activities in 2008.
For the minutes, see Appendix 10.

• Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund will concentrate on networking within Sweden in 2008, visiting SASNET’s partners in Stockholm, Uppsala, Göteborg, Karlstad, Malmö, Linköping. and elsewhere.
• The main activity during the year will be organising the “Nature, Knowledge, Power” conference in Uppsala on 15–17 August, in collaboration with Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
• On 10 April, a business seminar titled ”Verksam i Indien” will be organised in Lund in collaboration with the Sweden India Business Council (SIBC).
• Both Anna and Lars will participate in the 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS), to be held in Manchester 8-11 July.
• The Board has also decided to set up a SASNET students network, promoting recruitment of new students for Masters programmes in South Asian Studies. Ph.D. candidate Malin Gregersen has agreed to do the work.
• In January 2009, SASNET will organise a subnetwork conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, an outcome of the discussions at SASNET’s South Asian Reference group meeting in Delhi in November 2007.
• Finally, priority will be given to meetings with strategic institutions and people to secure finances for SASNET from Jan 2010 on. As director, Anna Lindberg has created a working group consisting of three members (Gunnel Cederlöf, Camilla Orjuela, Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg, and Prosun Bhattacharya) who will collaborate with the coordinator in order to discuss appropriate ways for securing funds for SASNET (including preparations for a visit to the Swedish Ministry of Education).

3. Networking Activities

3.1 Interacting with students, researchers and teachers

During 2007 we interacted with a great number of researchers, teachers and students by exchang ing e-mails and telephone calls. In all these contacts we used our Internet Gateway as a source of information. Some of the more important activities are listed in Section 4 below.

3.2 Newsletters

SASNET distributes newsletters and updates the Internet Gateway on a daily basis. The distribution list presently contains about 1 300 e-mail addresses.

Dates for the publication of the newsletters during 2007 were:

• Newsletter 69. January, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 70. February, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 71. March, 6, 2007

• Newsletter 72. April, 17, 2006

• Newsletter 73. April, 27, 2007

• Newsletter 74. May, 29, 2007

• Newsletter 75. June, 20, 2007

• Newsletter 76. July, 13, 2007

• Newsletter 77. September, 14, 2007

• Newsletter 78. October, 9, 2007

• Newsletter 79. October, 20, 2007

• Newsletter 80. December, 14, 2007

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

3.3 Planning and Networking Grants 2007

The last date for applications was 15 June 2007. A total of 20 applications for SASNET planning grants were received. The total amount applied for was 1.79 Million SEK.
On 28 August, 2007, the reference group of Prof. Arild Engelsen Ruud (Institute for Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo), Ewa Wäckelgård (International Science Programme, Uppsala University), and Jytte Agergaard Larsen (Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen) decided to approve grants to the following persons, projects, and programmes (http://www.sasnet.lu.se/grants.html):

Networking grants for Planning of New Research Projects:

• Maria Andersson, Department of Biotechnology, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University: “Sol-gel encapsulation of biomolecules – special emphasis on developing cost-effective diagnostic tests.” SEK 75 000

• Vinod Diwan, Division of International Health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet: “Improving maternal health outcomes in Madhya Pradesh, India – bridging the gap between research and practice.” SEK 75 000

• Maigun Edhborg, Neurobiology, Care Science, Section for Nursing, Karolinska Institutet: “Impact of maternal perinatal depressive symptoms on infant development and health in Bangladesh.” SEK 75 000.

• Olof Olsson and Gokarna Gharti-Chhetri, CMB – Molecular Biology, Göteborg University: “Phytoremediation of Arsenic in South Asian countries”. SEK 75 000

Networking Grants for Planning of new Educational Project: 

• Martha J. Garrett, Women’s and Children’s Health, International Maternal and Child Health, Uppsala University: “Regional Networking for Information on Child Survival.” SEK 150 000 

Grants for Guest Lecture programmes:

• William Hogland, Department of Technology, University of Kalmar: “Invitation of Sunil Kumar, Kurian Joseph, and Anjali Srivastava.” SEK 60 000
• Claes-Göran Holmberg and Per-Erik Ljung, Comparative Literature, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University: ”Invitation of Professor Soumyayit Samanta, Department of English, North Bengal University, Siliguri, India.” SEK 20 000

Grants for Organising Interdisciplinary Workshops:
• Eva-Maria Hardtmann, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University: “Conference on Dalits in the Global Justice Movement: Researchers and Activists in Dialogues.” SEK 62 000
• Om Prakash, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Technology and Design, Växjö University: ”Implementation Strategies for the Transfer of Hybrid Photovoltaic-thermal Technology (H-PV/T) from Research to Lab to Field.” SEK 75 000.

3.4 Courses and institution building

The Masters Programme in Asian Studies at Lund University was started on 1 September 2003 at Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE). The South Asian Studies track has had up to 15 students in the programmes started from 2003 to 2007. The SASNET root node has been active in the course with Staffan Lindberg teaching a 10 credit course on region-specific development and supervising some of the students. Lars Eklund provided information about sources for South Asian Studies, as well as making the SASNET magazine library available to students.

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 sixth year.

3.5 Working with Ph.D. students and supervisors

In 2007, SASNET supported the launch of a new South Asia-related Nordic Summer University (NSU) programme entitled “South Asia and the challenges of the 21st Century”. A cluster of Nordic researchers in South Asian studies, comprising Peter B Andersen, University of Copenhagen, Hans Blomkvist, University of Uppsala, Michael W Hansen, Copenhagen Business School, Sidsel Hansson and Catarina Kinnvall, Lund University, and Pamela Price, University of Oslo, had prepared the proposal, which includes three winter sessions (2008 to 2010) and smaller thematic workshops at the yearly NSU summer sessions. The aim is to connect presently dispersed scholars on South Asian studies and upgrade the existing mass of Nordic Ph.D. students and younger researchers in the Nordic Summer University activities. The decision to accept “South Asia and the challenges of the 21st Century”, a development of a joint Nordic research school on Asia established in 2005 by NIAS in Copenhagen, was taken at the NSU annual conference in Uppsala in August 2007. The first session of the new South Asia-related NSU programme will be held in Copenhagen 3-4 March 2008, focusing on the formulation of a research proposal on “Social Transformations, Political Capacities and Globalization” in the South Asian context. The organisers will invite 10 to12 senior researchers and Ph.D. students to discuss the format and content of the proposal. At the NSU session in summer 2008, the proposal will be presented. The organisers then expect to commence the three-year research period starting with the winter session 2008/09.

3.6 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.

3.7 Root node public activities

We have organised lectures, seminars, and concerts in Lund. For a full list see Section 4 below, or the web page http://www.sasnet.lu.se/lundactiv.html.

3.8 Interaction with state agencies

15 August: Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund visited the International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella Programkontoret).
19 – 21 September 2006: Anna Lindberg and Staffan Lindberg met with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wilhem von Warnstedt, Börje Ljunggren, Ingrid Wiklund, and Katrin Månsson); and Sida’s Asia Section (Jan Essner, Jörgen Schöning and Thomas Bergenholtz).
22 October: Anna Lindberg gave a presentation about SASNET for the Swedish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee during its visit to Lund University.

3.9 Interaction with ambassadors

Mr. Rajesh Vaishnaw First Secretary (Press, Information, Culture), Embassy of India, visited Lund University on May, 9–11, 2007. The entire programme was prepared by SASNET.
On 15 August 2007 Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund participated in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Indian independence in Stockholm.
In September, Anna and Staffan visited both the Bangladeshi and the Sri Lankan embassies in Stockholm.
The Pakistani Ambassador, Shaheen A. Gillani, was invited to participate in a SASNET seminar on October, 10, and on the following day he visited SASNET’s root node office.

3.10 Contact journey to India, and South Asian Reference group meeting

Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund travelled in Northern and Western/Southwestern India between 1–30 November 2007, visiting more than 30 significant universities and research institutions. The aim was to promote Indo-Swedish researcher cooperation and student exchange in all fields, from medicine/natural sciences to social sciences/humanities. A large number of fruitful meetings were held in all the places visited, including Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Loni, Pune, Bangalore, and Mysore. In New Delhi, the Swedish Embassy also organised a reception/dinner for the academic world in honour of the visiting SASNET delegation. For full information, with links to 34 special reports from each institution visited, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/journey4.html.
On Saturday 3 November 2007, a seminar meeting was organised in New Delhi for SASNET’s South Asian Reference group, made up of a number of senior researchers from the region who closely observe SASNET’s activities and give constructive suggestions to the root node. Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund met with Dr. Rita Afsar, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Dr. Tek Nath Dhakal, Campus Chief of Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal; Professor Kumudu Wijewardena, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (SJP), Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dr. Dipak Malik, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Varanasi, India; and Dr. J. Devika, Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The only missing member was Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta, Dept. of Paediatrics, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
The meeting was held at the Nordic Centre in India (NCI) in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, and was organized informally as a “think tank” session. The atmosphere was conducive to an open and relaxed discussion, and the results were very fruitful.
 Read the report from the SASNET’s South Asian Reference Group meeting.

4. SASNET Lund activities 2007

For complete report, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/lundactiv.html

15 February. Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund visited Kalmar University (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/kalmar2007.html).

14 March. Staffan Lindberg and Lars Eklund visited Blekinge Institute of Technology, Ronneby (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/bit07.html).

15 March. Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique from Bangladesh and Prof. R. Parthasarathy from India participated in a SASNET seminar about fish production and aquaculture in India and Bangladesh held in Lund. Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique is affiliated with the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies, BIDS, in Dhaka, and he talked about “Floodplain Aquaculture in Bangladesh: A case of Enchantment or Disenchantment?”. Prof. R. Parthasarathy from the Gujarat Institute of Development Research in Gota, Ahmedabad, India, talked about “Governance Issues in Natural Resources Management: The case of Fisheries in India”. Prof. Both Dr. Toufique and Prof. Parthasarathy visited Sweden to participate in a three-day workshop on ”Community Management of Openwater Inland Fisheries in Bangladesh and India” held in Lund 14–17 March. The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Department of Economics.

17 March–17 April. In collaboration with the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE), SASNET organised a series of public lectures and seminars during Spring 2007. The lectures were attended by Lund University Masters students in Asian Studies, as part of their training.

• On 26 March 2007, Ravinder Kaur, Post-doctoral Fellow at Roskilde University, Denmark, gave a lecture about “Islam between East and West – the Political Situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan” at the Department of Sociology, Paradisgatan 5, Lund.
• On 3 April 2007, Dr. Camilla Orjuela, Researcher at the Department of Peace and Development Studies, School of Global Studies, Göteborg University, lectured about “Ethnicity and Violent Conflict in Sri Lanka”. Venue: Java Hall, Scheelevägen 15 A, Lund.
• On 17 April, Neil Webster, Senior researcher at Development Studies, Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen, lectured about “Nepal: Kingdom versus Maoism” at Java Hall, Scheelevägen 15 A, Lund.

26 April. SASNET organised a combined seminar/film titled ”One Year after Nepal‘s Rhododendron Revolution” at the Conference room, IM, Spolegatan 12 B, Lund. The film showing the dramatic events of April 2006 that paved the way for a political settlement in Nepal, was produced by the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT). It was presented by Leif Bjellin, researcher at the Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, which has strong ties to Nepal. The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Swedish Organisation for Individual Relief (IM) and the Swallows India-Bangladesh section (Svalorna), both based in Lund.

9–11 May. SASNET organised a three-day visit to Lund University by Rajesh Vaishnaw, First Secretary, Embassy of India (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/vaishnaw.html).

14–16 May. Lars Eklund introduced SASNET at the 2007 Conference for International Coordinators at Universities in Finland, organised by the Finnish Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) and held in Seinäjoki (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/sasnet.html#cimo).

23 May 2007. The Sweden-India Business Council (SIBC) organised a successful afternoon seminar in Lund entitled “The New India” (Det nya Indien) in collaboration with SASNET and Ideon Science Park. It attracted around 50 people from companies in South Sweden and from Lund University. SASNET’s Director, Staffan Lindberg, was the moderator for the day, and also lectured about “Vad är nytt med Indien – förändringar de senaste 25 åren”. Other participants included Susanna Bill, Innovations Manager at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB in Lund. She talked about “How to Unleash the Power of Emerging Markets”, based on Sony Ericsson’s experiences. Anne-Charlotte Sukhia from ACS Interkulturell Utbildning discussed cultural differences in business life, and Ingemar Ljungdahl from CTO Telelogic AB presented the development of Telelogic AB in the Indian market (report at http://www.sasnet.lu.se/indsemlund.html).

15 August. Lars Eklund and Anna Lindberg visited the Indian Embassy.
http://www.sasnet.lu.se/sasnet.html#indamb.
On the same day they also visited the International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella Programkontoret), where they met Indian researchers participating in the ongoing Stockholm World Water Week conference.

19–21 September. Anna Lindberg and Staffan Lindberg made a contact journey to Stockholm with visits to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SIDA’s Asia Division, the Embassy of Sri Lanka, the Embassy of Bangladesh, Stockholm University, the Royal Institute of Technology, and Karolinska Institutet.

25 September. Professor Priyankar Upadyaya, Director of the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, held a SASNET lecture at Lund University about “Naxal Violence in India. Security Threat or Failure of Governance?” The lecture was organised in collaboration with Lund University’s Department of Economic History. Professor Upadhyaya, who has longstanding Swedish connections with the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, and the Department of Religious Studies, Karlstad University, also made a visit to the SASNET root node office for a meeting with Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund, SASNET, and Neelambar Hatti, Deptartment of Economic History.

26–27 September. Workshop on Post-Exotic India, Roskilde. (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/conferences.html#rosk).

28 September: Visit by Anna Lindberg to Uppsala to meet a group led by Gunnel Cederlöf for planning conference on “Nature, Knowledge, and Power”, and a meeting with Mirja Juntunen, Director of the Nordic Center in India.

2 October. Visit by Anand Agricultural University delegation: Dr. A.K. Pathak, Director of Research at AAU, and Dr. J.B. Prajapati, Coordinator of “SASNET Fermented Foods Project”. Meeting with the Indian Ambassador, Ms. Deepa Gopalan Washwa. (see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/sasnet.html#varsh).

10 October. A well-attended seminar on “Global Terrorism: Myth or Reality” was held in Lund. The seminar was organised by SASNET in collaboration with the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies and the Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University. The Ambassador of Pakistan to Sweden, H.E. Mr. Shaheen A. Gillani was the key speaker on the theme for the evening, questioning the use of the concept “terrorism” to only indicate individuals and groups but excluding the prevalent cases of state terrorism. Other speakers at the seminar were Professor Bo Huldt from the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm, who talked about “Is Terrorism the Model for Warfare in the New Millennium?”, Dr. Maria Bjernevi, former Senior Analyst at the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), who spoke on “Global Jihad, Local Terrorism”, and Iram Asif from Copenhagen University, who talked about ”Behind the Screen: Young Women of Jamia Hafsa”, based on material from fieldwork carried out in Pakistan.
The seminar, attended by more than 150 people, was held at SOL-Centrum, Lund University’s Centre for Languages and Literature. A newspaper report about the seminar appeared in the 12 October issue of the weekly web magazine Veckobladet, written by Bertil Egerö, (http://www.sasnet.lu.se/egerokomm.pdf).

22 October. Visit by Swedish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Anna Lindberg introduced SASNET (http://www.sasnet.lu.se/sasnet.html#parlsess).

23 October. Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, Editor-Publisher of the Sampark Journal of Global Understanding in Kolkata, India, gave a SASNET lecture on “Ideology of Nation State and Educational Policy”, focusing on Indian higher education since 1947, at Lund University. Chowdhury, who is also a researcher in didactics and participated as a key speaker at SASNET’s workshop on “The Role of South Asia in the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sweden” (held at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, November 2006), critiques the skewed elitist development of higher education and shows how various policy options that could have created a more equitable and just society fell by the wayside as India rushed towards modernity. He argues that the nation needs to rethink its higher education policies if the majority of Indians are to be brought into the fold of higher education and the country can make progress with equity. He gave his lecture at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Java Hall.

25 October. Muhammed Amir Rana of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, Islamabad, visited SASNET in connection with a meeting with Catarina Kinnvall and Sidsel Hansson at Lund University.

12 December. Professor Arild Engelsen Ruud of the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo, held a well-attended lecture at Athen, AF-borgen in Lund. The seminar was jointly organised by SASNET and the Association of Foreign Affairs at Lund University (UPF). Professor Ruud, who has a Ph.D, in History, Anthropology, and Development Studies from The London School of Economics (LSE), talked about “Democracy in a poor country: Bangladesh at the crossroads?”

19 December. Lars Eklund participated in a meeting on the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) programme in Brussels.