- General
- Eight years ago, the ESF established its Asia Programme
to investigate the feasibility of a European Institute for Asian Studies.
IIAS Director Wim Stokhof makes a case for its continuation.
Since 1975, José Ramos-Horta has been tirelessly championing the East Timor cause in international forums. On the morning of the IIAS Annual Lecture 'East Timor, from Ashes to Nationhood'; Freek Colombijn interviewed Ramos-Horta about his country's future.
- Burmese
Heritage
Notwithstanding its deliberate isolation for several decades and the political controversy the military regime evokes, a number of scholars have devoted their efforts to research Burma's rich and culturally diverse heritage. Guest editor Stephan van Galen hopes that this issue's 'Burmese Heritage' theme will contribute to the promotion of Burma Studies.
- Regions
- Central Asia
- After a brief silence, Menri Monastery's abbot calmly raised his big hand to measure the size of a pea between his thumb and index finger, meanwhile slightly lowering his head and squinting his eyes in appreciation: 'You know, yesterday I was thinking ... I had a little idea, very nice, do you want to hear?' Henk Blezer reports on the Bon Virtual Library Project.
- South Asia
- Between the 1890s and 1920s, the bubonic plague spread
from Bombay and became a major killer relates Gerda Theuns-de Boer.
By hook or by crook, the spreading of the
disease had to be prevented.
Spelling indiscriminate disaster and suffering the Gujarat earthquake in January has evoked a varied response that is telling of India's present condition, thus signal Mario Rutten en Miranda Engelshoven in 'Weak State, Strong Middle Class?'
- Insular South West Asia
- Mark Spindler reviews
Globalisation and the South-West Indian Ocean, wherein fascinating studies on Mauritius' past and present have been compiled. - Southeast Asia
- People swept around me, weeping, wailing, and despite their tears, expertly organizing the coming funeral. I, on the other hand, was virtually useless and so just sat down to take stock of the situation, feeling angry with Sauh for wasting his young life in a reckless and needless way. In continuation of last issue's new feature, Reed Wadley reports 'from the field'.
- East Asia
- Two articles are devoted to China's rising position in the international arena. Whereas Anja Jetschke reports on the workshop 'China in the New Millenium', Martin Stuart-Fox examines its increasingly hegemonic regional status in 'China and Southeast Asia'.
- Asian Arts
- After 2.5 years of renovation, the Museum of Indian Art in Berlin reopened. Its director, Marianne Yaldiz, guides us through one of the most important Indo-Asian collections outside India