Conference report: 19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies - ECMSAS
27-30 June 2006
Leiden, the Netherlands
Written by Marloes Rozing (IIAS, Seminar Coordinator) and Prof. Lars Eklund (SASNET Sweden, Coordinator)
Since 1968 the European Conferences on Modern South Asian Studies have been held every two years, each time organized by different universities all over Europe, but always acting on behalf of the European Association for South Asian Studies, EASAS. The key person behind the conferences over the decades has been Prof. Dietmar Rothermund, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Nowadays ECMSAS is one of the largest regular gatherings of South Asia oriented researchers in Europe, covering all fields from the humanities and social sciences to technology, natural sciences and medicine.
The 19th edition of ECMSAS was held from 27-30 June 2006 and welcomed almost 400 participants. The conference was hosted and organized by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and convened by Prof. Emeritus Dirk Kolff, Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University. The conference was held in Leiden University's Lipsius Building at Cleveringaplaats.
A broad international committee selected 49 panels out of 65 applications about one year before the conference. The committee encouraged panels open to a broad audience and applied a wide approach. The academic committee consisted of:
Prof.dr. I.S.A. Baud (Department of Social Geography, University of Amsterdam),
Dr. Th. Damsteegt (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University), Dr J.J.L. Gommans (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University), Prof. Dr. A Griffiths (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University), Prof.dr. D.H.A. Kolff, (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University (retired)), Dr. D. Kooiman (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), Prof.dr. G.C.M. Lieten (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam), Dr. A.G. Menon (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University), Dr. J.E. Mooij, (Institute of Social Studies (ISS)), Dr. G. Oonk (Department of History, Erasmus University Rotterdam), Prof.dr. C.I. Risseeuw (Department of Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University), Prof.dr. M.A.F. Rutten (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam), Prof.dr. H.W. van Schendel (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam), Dr. H.J.H. Tieken (Department of Languages and Cultures of South and Central Asia, Leiden University), Dr. O.G.A. Verkaaik (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam).
Of the almost 400 participants a large number came from South Asia, 58 from India, 6 from Nepal, 5 from Sri Lanka, 4 each from Bangladesh and Pakistan. The largest country group was otherwise UK, with 71 participants, Germany 46, USA 39 and the host country the Netherlands, also 39.
The 19th ECMSAS was inaugurated on Tuesday 27 June 2006. After a word of welcome by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of Leiden University, Dr Geert Booij, Professor Sujata Patel (Sociology Department, University of Pune) held the keynote lecture in the Grand Auditorium of Leiden University It was titled Is there a South Asia? Beyond Colonial Modernity and its Binaries. After the opening session participants spread to the 45 panels that were organized during the conference.
Of the planned 49 panels, four failed to materialize in the last minute due to financial constraints of the participants. The other 45 panels were held over the course of 4 days (27-30 June). There were up to 12 parallel sessions each day with an average of four presentations per session. About 20 panels consisted of two or more sessions. Apart from the regular programme, the conference hosted three special events.
One of these events was a special roundtable in the framework of the newly established research programme Illegal but Licit: Transnational Flows and Permissive Polities in Asia. The roundtable was organized by Prof. Willem van Schendel (University of Amsterdam and International Institute for Social History) and Dr Sikko Visscher (University of Amsterdam/Asian Studies in Amsterdam). Another special conference event was the literary workshop organized by Thomas de Bruijn, titled Dream, Vision or Realism: Hindi Literature at the Brink of the Twenty-First Century, which featured two Indian authors, Geetanjali Pandey and Sara Rai.
On Wednesday evening, 28 June, a special plenary session was held by the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) on Bringing together European Research on India and the website of the new "Academic Network for European Research on India" (ANERI, http://www.aneri.eu/) was introduced to the public. The project was introduced by Dr Willem van der Geest (team leader), Prof Kunal Sen (University of East Anglia), Dr Lawrence Saez (Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics) and Mr Mikael Sami (European Commission) and was followed by a plenary discussion.
Apart from academic sessions, the conference was complemented by a social programme, which consisted of a grand welcome reception on the first day. The reception was held in the City Hall of Leiden hosted by the City of Leiden and Leiden University.
On Thursday 29 June the conference dinner took place in the Roman setting of the prehistoric event park Archeon in Alphen aan den Rijn. The Bangladeshi Ambassador to the Netherlands, Ms. Ismat Jahan, was the guest of honor at the fabulous dinner session, that even included Bhangra dancing by Punjabi and European participants, and some Bangladeshi participants singing Rabindrasangheet along with their Ambassador.
In the afternoon of the final day the ECMSAS "business meeting" was held along with the fifth General Meeting of European Association for South Asian Studies. The meeting decided to formalize the relationship between ECMSAS and EASAS, something that was not done earlier. Nominations for new EASAS board members were received, and a discussion was held about the venue for the next ECMSAS conference, to be held in 2008. After the conference the board decided to award the next conference in 2008 to the University of Manchester.
Synopsis of some panel reports received (full overview available at http://www.easas.org/).
Panel 1: COPING STRATEGIES, ALLIANCES AND ALIENATION BETWEEN AND AMONG ‘HAVE' AND ‘HAVE-NOT' YOUTHS IN SOUTH ASIA
Convened by Kathinka Sinha-Kerkhoff and Ellen Bal
"After I read the panel abstract I thought I had read an abstract of a paper".
This was one of the remarks we the convenors of panel I received and we were indeed aware that our panel abstract was quite exclusive. In fact, we purposefully had formulated a framework that would narrow down the number of people that could relate to the theme of ‘youth' as defined by us and explored in a particular way. The result was a limited number of well-written papers that were compact and well comparable using similar groups, concepts and/or approaches. Unfortunately however, we received papers dealing with youths in India only and we therefore can not claim the young people discussed in the papers are representative for youths in the whole of ‘South Asia' as outlined in the panel abstract's title.
...
PANEL 4: People in Motion, Ideas in Motion: Culture and Circulation in Pre-modern South Asia
Convened by Thomas de Bruijn and Allison Busch
We originally conceived this panel out of a desire to experiment with new ways of doing literary and cultural studies-with special reference to premodern texts and practices. By adopting as our defining rubric a cultural process like circulation instead of more traditional units of analysis like author, language, or text, it was our hope that we would be able to trace new patterns between and across different cultural, as well as historical zones.
...
There were fifteen presenters in total, who shared with the group a rich array of material. A range of different languages and literatures, cultural and religious traditions were represented, in both modern and premodern settings. If the variety in topics occasionally challenged the unity of the sessions this was more than compensated for by the interesting intellectual trajectories that could be traced.
Indeed, one of the strengths of the panel was that it created dialogue across diverse areas of cultural and historical studies.
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South Asian literature, for instance, is too often studied in an overly compartmentalized fashion that does not recognize enough the interactions between languages, genres and texts. Academics talk about Hindi literature, but ignore contemporary Persian practices (and vice versa). One of our most important interventions, then, was to chip away at a range of scholarly boundaries, and open up new grounds for comparison. Circulation became a tool for unfixing existing categories and compartmentalizations of Indian culture in the periods under research.
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During the closing session the panelists broached the subject of the larger ramifications of the kind of work we had been presenting over the two day period. We discussed possibilities for future collective work in the form of more conference sessions, and new venues for publishing humanistic research of this kind. At the moment discussions are in progress for editing a conference volume of the papers.
PANEL 5: Religion in modern literature and film
Convened by Theo Damsteegt and Diana Dimitrova
... thirteen papers were read by participants from Europe and the U.S.A.
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While most of the papers read on Tuesday afternoon were based on literary prose and poetry, those delivered on Wednesday morning concerned drama and film:
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A clear advantage of the panel was that it comprised papers on the role of religion in a wide variety of sources (prose, poetry, drama and film), and in both meetings, lively discussions about the nature of the sources, the methods of analysing and interpreting them, and the role of religion in them took place between the paper readers, panel members, and other colleagues.
After revision, publication of a number of papers is being considered.
PANEL 6: Hagiographies: Topics, Canonization and Interculturality
Panel Report: Hagiographies: Topics, Canonization and Interculturality
Convened by Andreas Doctor and Johannes Beltz
...
This was the second time that a panel on hagiographical studies was organized under ECMSAS auspices. The panel was well attended by scholars from a variety of geographical regions, study areas and disciplines. Apart from the speakers, the panel also benefited from an interested and lively audience, which further contributed to many fruitful dialogues and discussions.
At the conclusion it was decided to apply for a continuation of this panel at the next ECMSAS in 2008. From the paper contributions of this year's panel preliminary discussions for possible joint publication was also initiated.
Panel 9: Processions in South Asia and in the Diaspora
Convened Knut A. Jacobsen, University of Bergen
The panel included six papers and lively exchanges of scholarly views.
The first paper by Isabelle Clark-Deces, presented the transformation of funeral processions in Tamil Nadu the last 15 years.
Knut A. Jacobsen analyzed the interaction between processions and audiences and the use of processions as public display events.
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Brigitte Luchesi gave a thorough review of the patterns of Hindu Tamil processions in several European cities.
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Matthias Frenz investigated the referential structure of religious processions from a socio-historic perspective, based on research at the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Velankanni, southern India.
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Hugh van Skyhawk argued that samadhis or dargahs of great saints in India usually form the focal points of the communities that have grown up around them and that while the shrine itself embodies the highest degree of sacredness (often perceived in a material sense and thus transferrable by touch), the community surrounding the shrine is also perceived by believers to embody sacredness.
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Finally Stig Toft Madsen reported in his paper on a reform taking place in the tradition of flagellation during Muharram processions in Pakistan.
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The presenters illustrated their papers with pictures which made the processions become alive for the audience and each paper was followed by many questions and lively discussions.
The papers are now being edited for publication.
PANEL 16: Social Medicine in South Asia
Convened by Biswamoy Pati, Samisksha Sehrewat
The panel Social Medicine in South Asia received an enthusiastic response and was well-attended.
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The papers addressed a range of issues, reflecting the great expansion in the field of History of Medicine in recent times. These included German medical contributions within India, ideas about health (particularly reproductive and sexual) within women's writings in nineteenth century India, women's hospitals in India (called Zenana hospitals), the canonization of indigenous medicinal knowledge, pilgrimages and public health and leprosy in Orissa.
The presenters in this panel were much encouraged by the response they received for their papers. They returned from the conference with fresh ideas and inputs, which would definitely help them with their research work. The panel organisers are also planning similar meetings in the future. They plan to collaborate on future works and manuscripts. The conference was therefore very productive for all the participants of the panel.
PANEL 21: Sri Lankan Politics: conflict, reconstruction, and governance
Convened by Camilla Orjuela and Birgitte Refslund Sorensen
Panel 21 brought together a mix of European and Sri Lankan scholars for a full day of lively discussions.
Apart from the paper presenters a number of scholars and practitioners with extensive knowledge about Sri Lankan politics contributed to the discussions, for instance Selvin Ireneus, Ministry of Rehabilitation for the Northeast of Sri Lanka; Cristiana Natali, University of Bologna, Italy; Ambuja Sarvanandhan and Nathan Chelliah, The Economic Consultancy House, Norway; and Timmo Gaasbeek, Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
PANEL 22: Bengal studies
Convened by William Radice and Hans Harder
The Bengal Studies panel met very happily and successfully. It occupied three sessions - Thursday morning and afternoon and Friday morning - and was attended in part by about ten people from other panels, as well as the contributors themselves. Seventeen papers were presented.
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Each contributor had 20 minutes to present his or her paper, leaving 10 minutes for questions and discussion, and we managed to keep to time well. All had been asked to bring hard copies of their papers, to distribute to the other participants; only about half did so, and greater efforts must be made by the convenors next time to insist that copies should be brought. The subjects covered a wide range of literary, linguistic, religious, historical, cultural and sociological topics, confirming the panel's interdisciplinary nature.
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At a discussion at the end of the panel, it was agreed that the Bengal Studies panel should remain interdisciplinary, as most participants and visitors to the panel find this stimulating; the abstract for the panel should remain broadly based, with knowledge of Bengali being the common denominator. As regards publication of the papers in a single volume, the convenors did not feel they could undertake the editing themselves, but would welcome offers from other members of the panel.
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We only had one contributor from Bangladesh, and it would be good next time if we could achieve a better balance between India and Bangladesh, though this will probably be dependent on what travel grants are available.
PANEL 32: Post Green Revolution Agrarian Transformation in South Asia: Ecology and Peasant Life under Globalization
Convened by Sucha Singh Gill and Staffan Lindberg
The panel at Leiden went very well and illustrated the variations in socio-economic development in South Asia's Post Green Revolution time, from stagnation and crisis in Punjab to relative progress in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where agriculture now is complemented with the growth of industry and services and where most household straddle between different sectors of the economy.
We agreed to publish an anthology with 12-13 contributions. In addition to the contributions of the panelists, we would like to invite Singa Roy to write about the peasant movements and the farmers' movements in one chapter. We have asked Rita Afsar to arrange a contribution on the development of agriculture in Bangladesh. We will also aska M.S. Swaminathan if he can contribute something on: ‘Sustaining the Green Revolution: Towards a second Green Revolution?'
PANEL 33: Natural Disasters, their Impact on Marginalised and Disadvantaged Groups and Demographic Consequences
Convened by Dagmar Hellman-Rajanayagam
The panel went well, though unfortunately some paper presenters had to cancel their trip due to funding problems. All in all three papers were presented plus an introduction to the panel by the convenor. The first paper was read by Dr. S. Sumathi on the aftermath and the effects of the Tsunami 2004 on the fairly poor fisher community in Chennai city itself. The paper was particularly interesting because she had video footage of the immediate aftermath of the tragedy seldom shown before.
Mr. Selvin Irenaeuss reported on the problems dealing with the effects of the Tsunami in a politically contested region where violent conflicts had not been really settled. The Tsunami here often hit people who had already been displaced or otherwise affected by the war. He described the efforts of his NGO to assist the people affected despite these difficulties and in cooperation with government agencies and international donors. One of his assistants then gave a short overview of TECH and its aims.
Britta Grünig from the University of St. Gallen presented her ongoing research on a drought-prone village in Rajasthan and the attempts of an indigenous NGO over a considerable period of time to help the inhabitants cope with this situation.
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The following discussion was lively and concentrated, on the one hand, on the political situation in Sri Lanka and its effects on aid efforts. On the other hand, it turned on effective measures to assist disadvantaged groups and on the question, whether continuous engagement by any one NGO was really an effective way to help people to determine their lives themselves.
PANEL 36: The World of Asian Commerce: Temporal and Spatial Continuities
Convened by Guita Dharampal-Frick, Jos Gommans and Bhaswati Bhattacharya
The theme of the panel was the mechanisms in the formation of networks, especially commercial, in the world of the Indian Ocean in the pre-colonial and colonial periods.
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Papers included presentations from both established and young scholars and dealt with issues like centre and periphery, mercantile correspondence, institutions like commenda, networks based on family and kinship, merchant-state relationship, European private trade, merchant families of Surat, the question of trust as social capital, canon of inter-related texts produced by the Hadrami Aydarus network, etc.
This was perhaps one of the very few panels that, besides paying attention to the networks South Asian merchants in India and beyond, also focussed on the importance of the players of non South Asian originin the shaping of the socio-economic history of the region. It was remarkable that both the sessions were attended by a large number of scholars. The papers of this panel will be published in a special number of the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (JESHO) in 2007.
Panel 38: ‘Syncretism,' Christianity, and India's Religious Traditions: Squaring Texts, Practices, and Rituals with Terms, Concepts, and Cases
Convened by Selva J. Raj and Richard F. Young
Exchange and interaction at this year's panel, the sixth on aspects of South Asian Christianity at EASAS conferences, were notably constructive and collegial. Seven papers were presented.
Audience participation exceeded expectation, with around 25 in attendance at certain points - far better than the numbers at the previous conference. The panel continues to enjoy solid backing from a core group - several ‘members' having attended for the whole 12 years of its existence - while an infusion of new participants has insured that the panel remains open to new ideas. As anticipated, participants agreed that the panel was productive enough to warrant continuation at the next EASAS conference.
Prior to Leiden, the panel had accepted papers on any aspect of Indian Christianity without concern for thematic unity. ...it had been suggested at Lund that the panel address a specific theme. The analytical usefulness of ‘syncretism' for understanding Christianity's interactions with Indian religions was suggested as a possible topic.
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Unlike previous panels, this one involved a more frank and open exchange between theology and the social sciences, not only because several participants come to the study of South Asian Christianity from a theological background, but also because the term itself, ‘syncretism,' had a distinctive theological usage before its recent rise to prominence in the social sciences. Some of the most interesting discussion therefore had to do with whether or not a non-normative usage is possible. While no consensus was evident, the day was well spent - such a conversation, involving theologians and social scientists being all too rare, though both ‘parties' share a common interest in South Asian Christianity and employ similar methodologies for the study of it.
PANEL 41: Political Development, Processes of Democratization and Human Rights in South Asia
Convened by Erik Komarov
Five papers on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh submitted at the Panel and one more as a separate lecture (due to organizational reasons) presented the results of empirical research and theoretical interpretations. The respective legislation, political actions and other developments promoting democratization were reviewed and its limitations and setbacks were pointed out. The following main issues were analyzed: historical premises and regularities of democratization in South Asia with special reference to India in comparative perspective including a review of political developments in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (Erik Komarov); collective actions and politics in rural Bangladesh (Joseph Devine); women's constituency, political development and human rights in India (Wendy Singer); socio-economic violations of women's human rights (a general review by S.Sri Krishna); conditions of Indian untouchables, their continued depression and certain changes brought by a spread of education (K.T. Shivanna and G.Ramarathan); US security assistance and political development in Pakistan (a separate lecture by C.Christine Fair and Peter Chalk). The papers were based on original research of a commendable level.
PANEL REPORT:
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BANGLADESH, PANEL 47
Convened by Willem van der Geest, Prof Mobasser Monem and Prof Golam Hosain
In his brief introduction of the Panel, Dr Willem van der Geest explained that this panel seeks to ensure that the Conference maintains an explicit platform for research and analysis of Bangladesh. Its focus was on issues of the quality of political governance and the resulting outcomes on social development and the nature of complex interdependencies and feedback between governance and development.
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Reviewing and discussing the proceedings of the Panel, the convenors and paper presenters decided that the panel should be proposed for the 20th Conference under the general name of Political Governance and Social Change in Bangladesh.
Publication of the panel papers on the EASAS website as well as through appropriate journals or as an edited volume should be actively pursued.