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How India’s crackdown on NGOs is serving Hindu nationalism

Over the past decade, the Indian government has systematically cracked down on dissenting, secular, and minority non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by limiting their access to funding. Organizations have been forced to shut down or severely limit their advocacy and community work. The gap that these organizations leave behind in communities is filled with exclusivist volunteer groups, which promote the government’s Hindu-nationalist (Hindutva) ideology. It appears that the crackdown on organizations is not only aimed at silencing critics, but it is also polarizing communitie

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Creativity vs control: tensions in Chinese educational policy

For the past decade, the Chinese state has promoted the development of “mass entrepreneurship” by requiring all higher education institutions offer courses in innovation and entrepreneurship. But innovation and entrepreneurship requires creativity, critical thinking, and independence, characteristics seemingly at odds with government efforts to promote loyalty to the party-state.

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Next events

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Feb
19

Oil, oligopolies, and state responses: a global and local history of oil markets, 1860s-1939

Feb 19, 2024 - Feb 20, 2024
Call for Papers/ Workshop
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About AsiaPortal

The AsiaPortal was established in 2006 by the Library and Information Center of NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS LINC) as a common Nordic resource for academic information on Asia and as a platform for information sharing within the Nordic Asian studies community. The content on the portal is provided by NIAS Library, the Nordic NIAS Council (NNC) member institutions […]

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InFocus blog

In Focus is a forum for discussions on up-to-date topics in Asia featured in the Asia Portal’s In Focus section. We welcome well-written contributions from MA and PhD students, researchers and other experts on Asian subjects.

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E-resource of the month

Taiwan E-books is a big collection of open access e-books, incl over 2300 government publications, within a wide range of subjects, e g Philosophy and religion, Economy and Finance, Educaton, Society, Politics, Law and Military, History and Geography, Linguistics and Literature, Arts. and more. The collection is maintained by the National Central Library of Taiwan and can be browsed/ searched according to subjects and publication year, author, publication place and keywords.

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Recent Nordic Asia Podcasts

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1. Dec 2023 / 54 min

Life after NIAS: A Conversation on the Closure of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies

Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Inga-Lill Maria Blomkvist, Gerald Jackson, Jørgen Delman, Geir Helgesen, Duncan McCargo

In December 2023, more than five decades of institutionalized Nordic collaboration in the field of Asian studies will come to an end with the closure of NIAS, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. What has been the impact of NIAS on Nordic research on Asia? What legacy will NIAS leave behind? And how will the […]

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17. Nov 2023 / 27 min

Sauna Culture in Japan

Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Eetu-Antti Hartikainen

In 2020, Finland’s sauna culture was added to the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Sauna culture is an integral part of the lives of the majority of the Finnish population. Interestingly, the Finnish style of sauna-going has inspired quite a few individuals […]

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A Nordic Hub for Asian Studies

NIAS - the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies - is an academically independent Nordic research and resource center, focusing on modern Asia from a predominantly social sciences perspective. NIAS is an integrated part of the University of Copenhagen with the status of a centre under the Department of Political Science.
NNC- the Nordic NIAS Council is a body that actively works to support and strengthen Asian studies in the Nordic region and presently consists of 23 Nordic and Baltic universities and research institutions in all five Nordic countries. The aims of the NNC are to further Nordic Asian studies by pooling resources and establishing mutual cooperation in developing research, as well as the organization of conferences, seminars and Asia-related educational programmes in the Nordic region. In particular, it works to promote synergy between the activities at the NNC member institutions and NIAS.

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Special Collections

The AsiaPortal’s Special Collections is an assemblage of information on physical or digital special collections at libraries in the Nordic Countries affiliated with the NNC.Under each country, you can find a description of the collection and, if available, direct links to various materials such as catalogs, manuscripts, and image collections as well as contact information […]

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Taiwan Reseource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) logo

Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS)

On 16 may 2018 the Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) was officially inaugurated at the TORS Center of Knowledge at the Southern Campus of the University of Copenhagen. TRCCS is the result of a cooperation agreement between the National Central Library of Taiwan (NCL) on the one hand and Department of Cross-cultural and […]

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Bambu

The Nordic Asia Podcast

The Nordic Asia Podcast is a podcast series in which experts share their insights about timely topics within Asian Studies. The series is co-hosted by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) and its partner institutions: the Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the University of Turku, Asianettverket at the University of Oslo and the Stockholm Centre for Global Asia at Stockholm University.

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