Research and Education on South Asia at Lund University

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Research and Education on South Asiaat Lund
University
Lars Eklund Staffan Lindberg SASNET Swedish
South Asian Studies Network, http//www.sasnet.lu.
se
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Interaction with India and South Asia for a long
time
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• South Asia research was initiated at Lund
  University in the 1940s by Sten Rodhe and Carl
  Gustaf Diehl, Dept. of History of religions.
• They were later followed by art historian Sten
  Åke Nilsson and historian Karl-Reinhold
  Haellquist.
• The interest increased with the entry of economic
  historian Neelambar Hatti and sociologists Göran
  Djurfeldt and Staffan Lindberg in the late
  1960s.

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• Today South Asia plays a major role in research
  and teaching at Lund University.
• About 60 researchers and doctoral students in 30
  departments are active in this field, and all
  faculties are represented with substantial
  commitments.
• Lund University is doing 20 of the total South
  Asia related research and teaching activities in
  Sweden.

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• The current budget for these activities are about
  SEK 15 million. About 10 million comes from
  external sources.

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Strong research environments focused on South Asia

• 1. Centre for Theology and Religious
  Studies
• 2. Faculties of Social Sciences and
  Economics
• 3. Department of Biotechnology
• 4. Centre for East and South-East Asian
  Studies

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Centre for Theology and Religious Studies

• History and Anthropology of Religion/Indic
  Religions
• Islamology
• Missiology
• New Testament Exegesis
• Psychology of Religion

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Faculties of Social Sciences and Economics

• Centred at the Department of Sociology but with a
  strong research focus also at the departments of
  Political Science, Economic History and
  Economics.
• The Department of Sociology offers a 20-credits
  undergraduate programme in co-operation with
  Österlens folkhögskola.

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Biotechnology

• The Department of Biotechnology has several
  research projects related to South Asia, and
  Masters and PhD programmes with many students
  from South Asia.
• Other strong science departments with South Asia
  related activities include the Dept. Of Applied
  Nutrition and Food Chemistry, and the Divisions
  of Water Resources Engineering, Bacteriology, and
  Microbial Ecology, all at Lund Institute of
  Technology.

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Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies

• Since 2003 the Centre for East and South-East
  Asian Studies (ACE) offers a Masters programme in
  Asian Studies, with a separate track for South
  Asian Studies.
• ACE has the ambition to broaden its study field
  to include South Asia. It already houses SASNET,
  the Swedish South Asian Studies Network, within
  its premises.

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The role of SASNET

• SASNET is a national network for research,
  education, and information about South Asia,
  based at Lund University, set up in 2001.
• 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.

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The role of SASNET, cont.

• This is done primarily through SASNETs Internet
  Gateway, and by distributing planning grants to
  new research and educational projects.

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• SASNET is 75 financed by the Swedish
  International Development Cooperation Agency,
  Sida, and 25 by Lund University.
• As an example of the important role that Lund
  Universitys South Asia research plays after 2000
  it can be mentioned that Lund researchers managed
  to get 21 out of 56 Planning Grants distributed
  by SASNET during the period 20012004 .

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Examples of South Asia research at Lund University

• Lo Persson, Division of Molecular and Cellular
  Physiology Structure-based drug development
  against malaria and leishmaniasis in India
• Martin Gansten, Department of History and
  Anthropology of Religion/Section for Indic
  Religions Patterns of Destiny Hindu Nadi
  Astrology

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• Alia Ahmad, Department of Economics Reforms in
  the health sector in Bangladesh and India
• Bengt Sundén, Division of Heat Transfer
  Simulation of The Dynamic Response of Indian
  Plate Heat Exchangers

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• Staffan Lindberg and Göran Djurfeldt, Department
  of Sociology Revisiting Rural South India
  Twenty-five Years of Change and Mobility
• Erik Johansson, Department of Housing Development
  and Management The influence of urban design on
  microclimate and thermal comfort around buildings
  in Sri Lanka

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• Jerker Liljestrand, Division of Social Medicine
  and Global Health The Impact of Urbanization and
  HIV/AIDS on Mental Health in Low-income Countries
• Neelambar Hatti, Dept. Of Economic History Lives
  at Risk Discrimination of female children in
  modern India
• Lennart Mathiasson, Division of Analytical
  Chemistry Analysis of Pollutants from City
  Dump/Landfills in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, with
  Emphasis on Heavy Metals and Persistant Organics

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• Mohammed Nurul Alam, Department of Business
  Administration Financing of Small and Cottage
  Industries in Bangladesh by Islamic Banks An
  Institutional-Network Approach
• Baboo Nair, Division of Applied Nutrition and
  Food Chemistry Evaluation of Salvinia Auriculata
  as a raw material for agro-food-feed industry in
  India

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• Simron Jit Singh, Division of Human Ecology In
  the Sea of Influence A World System Perspective
  of the Nicobar Islands
• Peder Hjort, Division of Water Resources
  Engineering, Knowledge Development and Management
  for Poverty Alleviation
• Krishna Karkee, Lund University Centre for
  Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) Effects of
  Maoist conflict on the livelihood and
  biodiversity in Nepal

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• Anna Lindberg, Department of History Marriage
  payment in South India from 1930 to present
• Jan Magnusson, Centre for East and South-East
  Asian Studies The Baltistan Movement in the
  Northern Areas, Pakistan
• Mats Bergenhorn, Department of History and
  Anthropology of Religion/Section for Islamology
  Salman Rushdie and the Satanic Verses

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• Pernille Gooch, Division of Human Ecology
  Developing project on analysis of contemporary
  issues related to carrying capacity of
  pastoralism in higher Himalaya
• Ashok Kumar, Department of Biotechnology
  Low-cost Protein Bioseparation Technology A
  Realistic Option for the Bioindustry of
  Developing Countries
• Sidsel Hansson, Centre for East and South-East
  Asian Studies Gender, Education, Religion, and
  Environment. Women's activism and self-education
  in an environmental risk district in northwest
  India

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Some other researchers at Lund University focused
on South Asian studies

• Torkel Wadström and Åsa Ljung, Division of
  Bacteriology
• Ingrid Dash, Department of Education
• Kristina Myrvold and Katarina Plank, Division of
  Indic Religions
• Catarina Kinnvall, Department of Political
  Science
• Anton Geels, Department of Psychology of Religion
• Håkan Wallander, Microbial Ecology
• Malin Arvidsson and Aina Winsvold, Department of
  SociologyAnn Aldén, Missiology with Ecumenical
  Theology

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More information

• Go to http//www.sasnet.lu.se/environment.html
  for full descriptions on the Lund University
  departments where South Asia related research
  and education is going on

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