Dear all, As summer is upon us, CISCA here presents its third newsletter, the first of 2011. It has been yet another busy semester for us, both in Denmark and abroad, whether is has been conducting guest lectures, welcoming guest faculties, or signing MoUs. January / February In January, CISCA begun the semester with a series of lectures on the history of medicine at partner institutions by Prof. Niels Brimnes of Aarhus University. After visiting the National Institute of Epidemiology, Ambattur, Chennai and delivering a lecture titled 'From Cordon Sanitaires to Primary Health Care - developments in international health in the 20th century‘, Niels Brimnes presented two lectures in Delhi: -‘Between social, cultural and bacteriological frames – shifting perceptions of tuberculosis in India c. 1920-1960’ on 2nd of February at the History Department of Delhi University (North Campus) - 'BCG vaccination against tuberculosis in India 1948-58 - issues and challenges‘ on 4th of February at Sri Venkateswara College (South Campus) On the 25th of February, CISCA had the pleasure of welcoming the Indian Ambassador to Denmark, H.E. Ashok Kumar Attri (picture center), to Aarhus University. He visited the History and Area Studies Department and met with the Head of Department, Jan Ifversen (picture left) and CISCA chairperson, Uwe Skoda and CISCA board member, Niels Brimnes (picture right). His Excellency, the ambassador, also had a look around campus and facilities at the Department, e.g. the library.

Niels Brimnes © Nirmal Kumar

Sri Venkateshwara College, © Nirmal Kumar

H.E. Ambassador Ashok Kumar Attri © Uwe Skoda

Nirmal Kumar © Nirmal Kumar

This project is funded by the European Union.

March In the beginning of March, CISCA welcomed Indian Guest Faculties to Aarhus University, just as the year before. Dr. Chandermohan Singh Rawat (Ass. Prof.), teaching Hindi at Sri Venkateswara College in New Delhi, joined the faculty once again, as was also in Aarhus in the spring of 2010. With him was fellow Sri Venkateswara College faculty, Dr. Nirmal Kumar, Ass. Prof. of History. Dr. Kumar, had infact visited Aarhus earlier too, as a part of the CISCA workshop ‛Social In- and Exclusion in Modern South Asia‛. Furthermore, CICSA welcomed for the first time, Mrs. Aparna Pandey. Mrs. Panday, a Post Graduate teacher of History and Hindi, came to Aarhus as guest teacher and intern to improve the conversational skills of the South Asian Studies programme students at Aarhus University. On the 11th of March, Dr. Nirmal Kumar gave a lecture on ‛India 1500-1800‛ to an audience consisting of students from the History and Area Studies Department, outlining the most important developments in the crucial 'late medieval' or 'early modern' period of Indian history The months of March and April, saw CICSA’s visual library increasing. Dr. Nirmal Kumar had been so kind – again - to bring a great variety of Bollywood films, along with the more local Garhwali and Bhojpuri movies. The CISCA centre itself have furthermore supplimented the visual library by bringing in a great number of documentary movies on South Asia, from independent movie makers as well as DER.org, Syncline Filmstore and Berkeley Media, to name a few.

CMS Rawat © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

A. Pandey © Nirmal Kumar

Nirmal Kumar © Nirmal Kumar

Reception for the Indian guests © Uwe Skoda

This project is funded by the European Union.

April CICSA started April by welcoming another three Indian guest lecturers to Aarhus for the seminar ‛Developing India: Critical Approaches‛. Presenters at the seminar were: Prof. Deepak Kumar Behera of Sambalpur University (also joining Aarhus University as a Guest Faculty for one month) on ‛Impact of Mega Development Projects on Indigenous People of Orissa: An Assessment from Cultural Perspective‛, Dr. Jyotirmaya Tripathy of IIT Madras titled ‛Does Development Exist outside Representation?‛, Dr. Sudarsan Padmanabhan, IIT Madras on ‛Purusharthas and the Conception of Public Sphere in India‛ and finally, Dr. Niels Brimnes of Aarhus University on ‛Two Strategies for Tuberculosis Control in India 1948-65‛. For all three Indian lecturers it was their second time in Aarhus, as they visited in 2010 also. The seminar was followed by a reception. Besides co-teaching, Dr. Nirmal Kumar gave his second lecture on the 16th of April. The title was ‛Changing Bollywood‛ and attracted a crowd from all around campus. During his month-long stay Prof. Deepak K. Behera, visited Copenhagen on the 26th of April, where he gave a lecture about child labour in India, at the Danish School of Education, organized by Karen Valentin, CISCA board member. On the 28th of April gave a lecture at Aarhus University on ‘The Adivasis of India: A Critical Appraisal of State’s Interventionin Tribal Areas’.

D. K. Behera © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

J. Tripathy © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

Developing India © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

This project is funded by the European Union.

S. Padmanabhan © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

May On 3rd of May, CISCA welcomed Prof. Christopher Pinney from University College London as a part of the Saraswati Colloquium. Prof. Pinney gave a lecture on ‛Lessons from Hell: Picturing Punishment in India‛ and was joined by Cameron David Warner, Post-doctoral Fellow in Buddhism and Modernity at Aarhus University with his lecture ‛ Purifying the Realm: Buddhist Posters and Votive Cards from Tibet‛. As a discussant to both lectures, CISCA welcomed Abhijit Bhattacharya from CSSS (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences), Calcutta. Co-organized and as second Indo-European lecture, CISCA and the Jean Monnet Centre at Aarhus University, welcomed Dr. Klaus Voll to Aarhus University on the 9th of May. Dr. Voll, Advisor on Asia from the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), New Delhi, delivered a lecture titled ‚National Interest vs a European mosaic? A Constructive critique of EU-India relations‛. The lecture was part of the Jean Monnet Lecture series. The day after, on the 10th of May, CISCA presented yet another seminar. This time under the title of ‚Trysts with Democracy‛. Kenneth Bo Nielsen (Research Fellow, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo) gave a lecture on ‚The Decline of the Indian Left?‛ and was followed by Dr. Stig Toft Madsen’s (teacher and researcher at several Nordic universities) ‚Surprising India‛. Dr. Klaus Voll, besides giving another lecture titled ‚Current Trends in Indian Politics‛, further introduced the book ‚Trysts With Democracy‛, edited by Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Stig Toft Madsen and CISCA chairperson Uwe Skoda.

C. Pinney & C. Warner © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

A. Bhattacharya © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

K. Voll © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

K.B. Nielsen © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

This project is funded by the European Union.

May also saw Dr. Mirja Juntonen visiting Aarhus University and CISCA. Mirja Juntonen, the Director of the Nordic Centre for India (NCI) and a Hindi teacher at Stockholm University, came to Aarhus to speak to the first year students at the South Asian Studies programme about their forthcoming semester abroad in India. The students will go to Beneras Hindu University to take Hindi classes in a joint course with students from Olso and Stockholm universities. June In the month of June, Aarhus was yet again visited by the the Indian ambassador to Denmark, H.E. Mr. Ashok Kumar Attri, as he was present at the signing of the MoU between Aarhus University, CISCA and the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations). Present was also the Univeristy Rector, Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, the International Director, Kristian Thorn, and CISCA board member, Dr. Niels Brimnes. As part of the memorandum, the first ICCR visiting professor will be announced soon and is expected to teach in Aarhus in autumn / winter 2011. To conclude CISCA’s activities of the first semester of 2011, Aarhus University and CISCA hosted a workshop on ‚Welfare and Well-being in Modern South Asia‛ from 29th to 30th June, co-organized by the Danish School of Education (DPU), CISCA, IIT Madras and Sambalpur University. For a week, between the 27th June to 1st of July, CISCA had the pleasure of welcoming colleagues from our partner institutions and other universities in India, the United States, Indian scholars present in Denmark, scholars from Aarhus, Copenhagen and from Germany. Last, but not least, CISCA was honoured to welcome the Indian Ambassador to Denmark, H.E. Ashok Kumar Attri once again and for the first time Nepali Ambassador to Denmark, H.E. Vijay Karna.

H.E. Ashok Kumar Attri, Prof. Niels Brimnes and Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen © Lars Kruse AU FOTO

Mirja Juntonen © Uwe Skoda

CISCA workshop © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

H.E. Vijay Karna © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

This project is funded by the European Union.

The ‛Welfare and Well-being‛ workshop was initiated on day one with a lecture by H.E. Ambassador Ashok Kumar Attri titled ‛Welfare in Modern India‛. The Ambassador’s presentations was followed by the themes ‛Policies of Welfare‛ and ‛Welfare, Wellbeing and Health‛ with altogether seven paper s in this section. Topics like family roles, women’s rights and health were discussed intensively. On day two the themes of ‛Welfare and the marginalized‛ and ‛Welfare and the right to education ‚ dominated the talks, with tribal, Dalit and indigenous welfare and education being the focus of the presentations and the following discussions. As a fitting end to the workshop, H.E. Ambassador Vijay Karna gave a lecture titled ‚Peace Process in Nepal: Social Security as a Measure for Conflict Resolution‛. We at CISCA would like to thank all involved parties, presenters as well as participants, for an outstanding and productive workshop. We hope to see you again soon. ‚Europe and India – a reciprocal way?‛ was the title of an Essay Competition organised jointly by CISCA, IIT Madras and the India-EU Study Centre Programme. The best Indian and European essays were awarded a month long stay at a European or Indian University respectively in August-September 2011. The winners were: Ms Teresa Saracino (University of Milan) and Mr Siddarth Sareen (IIT Madras). Congratulations from our side. To read the essays, please go to: http://www.iescp.net/events.html.

Prof. Vijoy Sahay © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

Prof. V.R. Muraleedharan © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

Mahuya Bandyopadhyay © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

Prof. Deepak K. Behera © Lasse Nørgård Nielsen

This project is funded by the European Union.

Coming up The Contemporary India Study Centre Aarhus (CISCA), Department of History and Area Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark and Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India are jointly hosting a set of two workshops on Visual Cultures in Contemporary India. The first is would be held at Aarhus University, Denmark, while the second one would be located at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. Both workshops are planned as two days- workshops: December 8th-9th 2011 on Visual Cultures in Contemporary India at Aarhus University and January 8th-9th 2011 on Delhi and urban India in Visual cultures at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. To read the Call for Papers and more on the workshops, please go to www.cisca.dk. We would like to invite proposals for either one of them from scholars who have worked on relevant areas. Though both workshops are organized jointly we very much welcome individual contributions to one or the other. Please send your paper proposal to CISCA@hum.au.dk. Deadline for submitting abstracts: 31th of August (Aarhus) 30th of September (Delhi) We look forward to hearing from you!

Sri Venkateshwara College © Uwe Skoda

Aarhus University © Uwe Skoda

Aarhus University © Uwe Skoda

This project is funded by the European Union.