NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES, COPENHAGEN

NIAS 25 YEARS
The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, NIAS, celebrated its 25th
anniversary last year and is one of the oldest existing
interdisciplinary research institutes concerned with Asia as a
whole. It is financed by the governments of Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden to support and encourage scholarly
studies in Asian cultures and societies  and at the same time to
further cooperation and contact between scholars and research
institutes in the Nordic countries, as well as to strengthen links
with Asian colleagues and counterparts.
The reorganization of the Institute in 1987-88 was a step in the
adjustment to a new situation. In the 1970s and 1980s a new kind of
research had emerged at the universities. It broke with the older
orientalist and philological tradition of learning and was more
oriented towards the social sciences. NIAS wants to counterbalance
the tendency at the universities of disciplinary  fragmentation.
The Institute is also expected to collaborate in European research
and educational cooperation, as well as taking part in a
comprehensive dialogue with Asian researchers and scholarly
communities.

BOARD AND STAFF
NIAS is headed by a Board consisting of two members each from
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, appointed by the respective
country's Ministry of Research and Education. The Board also
includes two members from the Institute's staff. NIAS is lead by a
Director who is responsible to the Board. Since 1990 Professor
Thommy Svensson is the Director of the Institute. 

RESEARCH AT NIAS
The research carried out at NIAS tries to combine humanistic and
social science perspectives and to transcend traditional
disciplinary and geographical boundaries. For the time being
priority is given to East and Southeast Asian studies.
Research is carried out by NIAS' research staff, including the
Director, by  associated scholars working with their own funding at
the Institute, and by Nordic and Asian guest fellows. In addition,
the Institute gives financial support to a number of Nordic
scholars for field work in Asia and for studies in archives and at
research institutes in Europe. Ongoing research projects by NIAS'
research fellows are for instance "Nation-building in Southeast
Asia - Indonesia, Vietnam and British Malaya, 1945-1950", a project
carried out jointly by NIAS' Research Professor Stein Tūnnesson and
Dr Hans Antlov, "Culturally Conditioned Models of Conflict
Resolution: a study of Malaysia and Sweden", a project led by
Professor Thommy Svensson, which also involves Malaysian scholars,
"Asian Perceptions of Nature", a research programme led by Dr Arne
Kalland and Dr Ole Bruun, NIAS, "Textile Production in Vietnam", a
project carried out by Irene Nūrlund. A research project usually
results in a monograph. For instance, within the project "Landless
Villagers in Java" Dr Sven Cederroth has recently concluded a
manuscript entitled "Survival  and Profit in Rural Java", which
will soon appear as a NIAS monograph.

SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS AND OTHER SCHOLARLY MEETINGS
Among conferences and workshops held in 1992 can be mentioned the
"Nordic-Baltic Workshop of Orientalists", arranged jointly in Riga
with the Orientalist Society of Latvia and the Department of
Foreign Languages, University of Latvia, "Vietnam's economy", "Laos
and Laotian Studies", "Problems of Literature, Culture, Society and
History in Vietnam" and "Japanese Working Life". In 1993 a
"European Vietnam Studies Conference", as well as workshops on
"Identity in Asian Literature", "Korean Studies in the Nordic
Countries", "Colonial Power and Asian Nationalism, 1930-1957" have 
been arranged, to be followed by a workshop on Central Asia.  
The Institute also arranges a number of research seminars and
lectures. In addition, financial and administrative support is
given to other conventions. Cooperation with other institutes is
regular in arranging workshops and seminars. In 1992 twelve
full-day workshops and conferences were arranged, with about 480
participants and 200 papers presented, in addition to 35 seminars
and lectures with altogether about 600 participants. 

SCHOLARLY SUPPORT 
In addition to the research carried out at NIAS, the Institute
gives financial research support to  scholars affiliated to
universities and institutes in the Nordic countries. A major part
of this support is granted for travel and establishment costs in
conjunction with field research in Asia; a smaller part for studies
at libraries, archives and research institutions in Europe.  The
Nordic Guest Fellowship Programme gives Nordic scholars an
opportunity to work at the Institute for shorter periods. This adds
to the Institute's programme for scholars from Asia. 

RESEARCH STUDENT SUPPORT
NIAS has a special support programme for research students working
on their MA and PhD dissertations. The programme is acronymed SUPRA
and encompasses at present over 200 students from twelve different
universities. The programme gives graduate and postgraduate
students privileged access to NIAS library and research facilities,
scholarly meetings, information services, fellowship programmes and
travel grants, as well as possibilities to participate in
international research training courses, get guidance and external
supervision by scholars attached to the Institute, and to publish
their dissertations internationally within the framework of NIAS'
publishing programme.

NETWORKING AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
In the Nordic countries a major problem has been for a long time
that many research milieus are small and dispersed. NIAS has the
task to establish and maintain structures for communication,
exchange of research results, information and mobility between
geographically separated institutes and scholars in five countries,
Iceland included. It is also looking after Nordic interests in
international fora of Asian studies and tries to contribute to
collaboration and increased contacts between Nordic
scholars/institutes and their counterparts in Asia, Europe and
North America. Participation in European programmes has a high
priority, as have cooperation and joint projects with universities
and research institutes in Asia.
Permanent networks have also been established promoting contacts,
communication and cooperation between scholars at different Nordic
universities. NIAS supports, and has partly been a driving force
behind the foundation of five Nordic research associations in Asian
studies which, since 1991, cover the main regions of Asia. It also
maintains Malaysia-, Vietnam-, Laos-, and Korea-networks.
Beginning in 1992, NIAS systematically  tries to invite colleagues
from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states to its conferences. In
this way, contacts have been established with institutes in Russia,
Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria as well as Latvia and
Estonia.
NIAS is also actively trying to promote the establishment of
supra-national structures for Asian studies at a European level.
Among others, the Institute has recently been involved in the
creation of The European Association for South-East Asian Studies
(EUROSEAS) and the European Network for Vietnamese Studies,
EUROVIET.
Over the years, a rather extensive network of contacts in Asia has
been built up, including some 100 Asian scholars who have worked at
the Institute within the framework of the Asian Guest Fellowship
Programme. In addition, during the past five years about 200 Nordic
scholars have received financial support through NIAS for research
in Asia.

THE LIBRARY
NIAS' Library holds about 44,000 volumes, mainly in Western
languages and about 700 current journals, as well as collections of
microfilms and microfiches, offprints and press cuttings. The book
collection is accessible online. The Institute cooperates closely
with the Oriental Section of the Royal Library in Copenhagen, whose
collections are located adjacent to NIAS' Library. Together these
constitute the largest library resource on Asia in the Nordic
countries. NIAS' Library is publishing annual accession lists,
lists of journals and offprints, as well as other catalogues and
book lists.

THE PUBLICATION PROGRAMME
In the first 25 years the Institute published about a hundred
titles. A separate Publication Unit started operating in 1993 and
is run by a full-time Editor-in-Chief, Gerald B. Jackson. In
publishing, the Institute cooperates with Curzon Press Ltd.,
London, but runs also an in-house publication programme. The
publications cover a wide range of research topics, from
linguistics and folklore, over history and anthropology to
development studies and economics. 

INFORMATION ACTIVITIES
One of NIAS objectives is to further information and documentation
on Asia, and to encourage the spread of general knowledge about
Asia. The main instrument for the information activities is
NIAS-nytt/Nordic Newsletter of Asian Studies. It appears four times
per year with a print-run of 2.500  per issue. 

NIAS welcomes contacts and collaboration with all institutes
concerned with the improvement of Asian studies and research. As
Professor Kristof Glamann, former Director of the Institute, wrote
in his foreword (1970) to the Institute 1/2s Monograph No. 1: "Asia
within Scandinavia should make Scandinavia a richer, warmer and
wider place to live in". 
Not only Scandinavia, we hope.