Nordic Perspectives - Your Nordic view on Asia

The Icelandic Centre for Asian Studies was formally founded on 16 December 2005 by the University of Akureyri and the University of Iceland. As the name of the Centre suggests, its role is to initiate and coordinate research and education concerning the Asian region. Until the foundation of ASIS, there has been no particular venue to conduct Asian research and studies in Iceland, which has had the unfortunate consequence that the region has gained scarce attention by Iceland-based scholars. A seminal task of ASIS is to change this fact. Asia is not as distant from Iceland as it used to be. Globalization and the ease and speed of modern transportation and communication brings the region straight into our own backyard – or ours into theirs. The chief mission of ASIS is to promote understanding of the Asian region among Icelandic scholars, professionals and public in order to be better capable of taking care of our ever-expanding, increasingly common backyard. One of the Centre’s first and most important projects is to plan and coordinate the two universities’ mutual B.A. programme in East-Asian studies. The programme, which will formally commence in 2007, will combine the Japanese minor currently offered at the University of Iceland and the courses in Chinese studies launched by the University of Akureyri in the spring semester of 2006. Visiting lecturers from neighbouring Scandinavian and European universities will complement these courses to make the first programme in East-Asian studies in Iceland a strong and attractive one. The contact person at the Icelandic Centre for Asian Studies is Geir Sigurdsson, Director. E-mail: geirs@unak.is, Phone: (+354) 4608574 Researchers: Geir Sigurðsson (b. 1969) has a PhD from the University of Hawaii. He focuses in particular on Chinese philosophy, Chinese religions and education in contemporary China. Homepage: http://stefania.unak.is/stefania/strammi.asp?starfsm=geirsig His most recent publications are “‘Initiating While not Proceeding to the End’: A Confucian Response to Indoctrination” (forthcoming in Educations and Their Purposes: A Philosophical Dialogue Among Cultures, 2007) and “Broadening the Way: On Commensurability Between Derrida’s philosophy and Chinese Philosophical Narratives” (in Icelandic, with Ralph Weber, in Hugur, Journal of the Icelandic Philosophical Society 17, 2005). Jóhann Páll Árnason (b. 1940) has recently retired from his professorship at the Latrobe University in Sydney, Australia, and taken recidency in Akureyri, Iceland. He has written extensively on the transformation of Japan throughout modernity. His publications include Japanese Encounters with Postmodernity (1996), The Peripheral Centre: Essays on Japanese History and Civilizations (2002), Eurasian Transformations, Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries: Crystallizations, Divergences, Renaissances (with Bjorn Wittrock, 2003) and Civilizations in Dispute: Historical Questions and Theoretical Traditions (2004).
http://www.hug.hi.is/page/asiuver
Keywords: Asia Area Studies, Iceland, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,

NNC member With Asia as a strategic priority area at Copenhagen Business School the Asia Research Centre (ARC) strives to: * stimulate Asia related research activities at CBS by initiating and supporting high quality research projects. * arrange workshops, international conferences, guest lectures and establish research networks with focus on Asia. (See Arrangementer) * edit and publish the Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies (CJAS) and Copenhagen Discussion Papers (CDP). * co-operate closely with Asia Business Forum, a forum regarding Asian issues of topical interest to Danish businesses focusing on Asia. * provide research and teaching input to the Asian Studies Programme and other Asia-related courses at CBS. * co-operate with local Danish partners as well as with global alliances with partners in Europe, Asia, and the US.
http://uk.cbs.dk/arc
Keywords: Denmark, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,

The Asian Century Research School is envisioned as a “network research school” based on the exchange of teachers, students, and other research resources at a Nordic level to facilitate a much-needed “critical mass” and create synergy amongst scattered Asian Studies environments.
http://www.asiancentury.nu/
Keywords: Denmark, Education, Higher education, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,

The Center for Pacific Asia Studies (CPAS) was established in 1984 to help stimulate general interest in this vital part of the world and to give impetus and focus to academic research into political, economic, social and cultural developments there. CPAS is a part of Stockholm University but it sees the entire Swedish academic community as its constituency. Besides research, one of its chief aims is to reach beyond the university in order to bring scholars and students into contact with other groups with an active, professional interest in the Pacific Asian region. CPAS maintains SACPAD, a research data base covering contemporary research cooperation between Swedish and Asian researchers, and, as a service as well as a research organization, it seeks to create links to businessmen, diplomats, officials, journalists, teachers and writers - in short, to all people with a professional interest in Pacific Asia - in order to both draw upon their first-hand experience and knowledge, and to find ways to help satisfy a continuously growing, mutual need for reliable information and analysis.
http://orient4.orient.su.se/cpas/index.html
Keywords: Nordic Perspective, Research Institute, Sweden,

The China Autonomy Programme (CAP) at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) was established in 2001 with funding from the Norwegian Development Aid Organisation (NORAD) and is a large research programme focusing on the human rights issues of minorities in China, and in particular the tension between culture protection and economic development in minority areas. The work of the China Autonomy Programme centers around institutional cooperation between Norwegian and Chinese research and governmental institutions, and is based on equal partnership and mutual capacity building. The China Autonomy Programme is organized into two separate projects, The Autonomy and Development Project and The Policy and Law Recommendation Project:
http://www.humanrights.uio.no/english/research/programmes/cap/index.xml
Keywords: China, East Asia, In Focus, In Focus 2008, In Focus 2008 Week 12, In Focus 2008 Week 29, In Focus 2008 Week 30, In Focus 2008 Week 31, In Focus 2008 Week 32, In Focus 2008 Week 47, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 05, In Focus 2009 Week 29, Law and legislation, Minority groups, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Research Institute, Social conditions, Social groups,

CMI was a pioneer in Asian development research. The current research focus includes issues of poverty, corruption and development aid. Development studies at CMI started with a focus on South Asia. Economists at CMI became involved in macroeconomic planning in Pakistan through Harvard University in the late 1950s. This resulted in contacts with East Pakistan and Bangladesh from independence in 1971. The cooperation agreement between CMI and Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies (BIDS), lasting 25 years, was the most important of several engagements in Bangladesh. One output from this cooperation is a unique collection of literature on Bangladesh in the CMI library. CMI researchers have also worked on Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. This region continue to be a priority area for CMI, but changes in staff and fluctuating demand for analysis in relation to Norwegian development aid have resulted in a decline in activity in some countries. Currently the following are CMI's active engagements: Nepal: Studies of social exclusion in cooperation with Tribhuvan University (Hatlebakk, Stokke, Suhrke) Sri Lanka: Studies of aid relations in cooperation with University of Colombo (Jerve) Bangladesh: Exploring research cooperation with Centre for Policy Dialogue and BIDS (Wiig) Southeast Asia CMI's involvement in this part of Asia started in Malaysia with assistance in developing the new economic policy at the end of the 1960s. The work of, then CMI director, Just Faaland is highly respected among leading Malaysian politicians and scholars and he remains today official advisor to the Prime Minister. CMI has carried out several studies in Vietnam of Swedish aid projects. In Indonesia, CMI researcher were involved in studies in the 1990s of deforestation and of involuntary resettlement. In the newly established research programme Politics of Faith Indonesia is one country in focus. Current engagements in the region are: Malaysia: Studies of economic inequality in cooperation with Center for Economic Development and Ethnic Relations, University of Malaya, Malaysia (Villanger, Kolstad) Indonesia: Religion and security (Telle) Vietnam: Poverty alleviation programmes (Jerve) Central Asia This is the last Asian region to enter CMI's repertoire of area competence, primarily with entry of Afghanistan as a major recipient of Norwegian development assistance in the wake of 9.11. Astri Suhrke started publishing on Afghanistan long before this event and her expertise was in high demand with the build up of post-war reconstruction aid. Furthermore, the recruitment of Arne Strand, with field experience from the country, made CMI a centre in Norway for studies on Afghanistan. Current activities are: Research in Sri Lanka and Indonesia deals with conflict issues, and Afghanistan is undoubtedly the country where CMI researchers are most strongly engaged in the field of peacebuilding.
http://www.cmi.no
Keywords: In Focus, In Focus 2007, In Focus 2007 Week 41, Libraries, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Research Institute,

Co-owner and founding member of NIAS
http://www.ku.dk
Keywords: Denmark, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,

The Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies is concerned with those cultures, languages, religions and societies that lie outside Western Europe and North America. The focus is thus on current affairs in the parts of the world where the 21st century's economic and cultural conflicts have been highlighted - but in a historical perspective that stretches all the way back to the prehistoric hunters and gatherers, the very first village communities and the formation of the prehistoric civilisations of the Middle East, Asia and America. The department's research and teaching take as their point of departure regional and local phenomena as well as more general, comparative studies across cultures and borders. The programmes are based on linguistic and historical competences, and each culture is studied on its own terms and with its own language in a cross-cultural environment because cultures and societies cannot be desribed or understood as isolated entities. One of the core aspects of the department's efforts is the work to ensure that regional processes are seen in a broader, cross-cultural perspective. The cross-cultural perspective not only comprises academic challenges but also the potential for new insights into current conflicts in a globalised world. Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Copenhagen Snorresgade 17-19, DK-2300 København S Contact: Administration tors@hum.ku.dk Phone: +45 35328900 Library Kontakt: Merete Pedersen merped@hum.ku.dk Tlf.: +45 35328830
http://english.tors.ku.dk/
Keywords: Asia Area Studies, Denmark, Libraries, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) is an independent research institution engaged in research in international affairs. The institute draws up reports and analyses and follows developments in international affairs continuously in order to assess the security and foreign policy situation of Denmark, e.g. aspects of relevance with regard to development policy. DIIS also communicates research findings, analyses and knowledge and performs functions concerning documentation, information and library services. Furthermore, DIIS contributes to the education of researchers, supports the development of research capacity in developing countries and establishes contacts between Danish and international research environments. DIIS's research and activities are organized in several research units and a few major commissioned works. DIIS maintains a database of internal Asia Specialists
http://www.diis.dk/sw239.asp
Keywords: Denmark, Nordic Perspective, Person, Research Institute,

The Graduate School of Contemporary Asian Studies is a multidisciplinary graduate school open to all doctoral canditates in Finland focusing on East and Southeast Asian topics in their research. The School's mission is to offer young doctoral candidates high level postgraduate education, to furnish Finnish academics for the international research careers, and to create a new research tradition of contemporary Asian studies in Finland. The work is based on the Finnish academic values and the expertise in the current Asian and Western intellectual discource.
http://www.asianet.fi/GSAS/gsas_about.html
Keywords: Asia Area Studies, Education, Finland, Higher education, Nordic Perspective, Research Institute,