CENTRE FOR ASIAN STUDIES AMSTERDAM (AMSTERDAM SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH) The Amsterdam School for Social science Research (ASSR) prepares candidates for the PhD degree in sociology, anthropology and political science. It was founded by the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam (CASA) and the Netherlands Graduate School for Social Science (PdIS). The School also serves as a national and international meeting point for social scientists and is part of an ongoing national programme of University reform to establish `centers of excellence' for post-graduate education in every social science discipline. The School was opened on January 6, 1992 and is located in the historical centre of Amsterdam. Within the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam combines, supports and develops Asia Studies in the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Free University (VU), and coordinates undergraduate teaching at these two institutions. CASA organizes workshops and conferences, and issues various publication series. CASA offers research affiliation and facilities to visiting foreign scholars and conducts research for organizations in the area of foreign aid. RESEARCH AT THE AMSTERDAM SCHOOL The Amsterdam School concentrates on social science research in a historical, comparative and empirical perspective focused on the formation and functions of contemporary societies. The postgraduate programme is based on the unity of social science and on the integration of social science studies in Asia and the West. Research projects will focus on three closely related themes studied from the perspectives described here and in the context of societies in Asia and Europe (with the emphasis on the Netherlands): state formation, labour, deprivation and care, and the sociogenesis of mentalities. Research is carried out by PhD students, pre dissertation students and post-doctoral fellows (funded by NWO, KNAW, etc.), Six core courses are offered each year: Peripheral cultures (by A. Blok, P. Geschiere, B. Thoden van Velzen, J. Verrips); State formation in Europe and beyond (by P. Kloos, A. de Swaan); The idea of 'historical development', political discourse, and the formation of modernity (by S. Stuurman, P. van der Veer); Eurasian Civilizations compared (by J. Goudsblom, F. Hsken, P. van der Veer); From Rural Communities to Urban Societies? (by L. Brunt, O. van den Muijzenberg, I. van Wetering); Poverty and Poor Relief (J. Breman, R. Lis, C. Schuyt, P. Streefland). LECTURES AND CONFERENCES AT CASA The CASA Staffseminar lectures and Eurasian colloquia are an occasion at which scholars may be informed of the most recent developments in the area of Asian studies. In content the Staffseminars lectures are very diversified: a first presentation of a recently completed phase of fieldwork; a completed consultancy inquiry or an empirical or theoretical study which a staffmember from CASA or another institute or a visiting fellow would like to bring to the attention of colleagues. Every year in June the annual Wertheim Lecture is held. This year, Prof. Sudipto Mundle will present the Lecture on 'The State and the Poor' (21 June 1994). Among conferences an workshops held in 1993 can be mentioned, 'Colonial Ethnographies'; 'Social Science in Indonesia'; Java symposium; Communalism in India For 1994 conferences on Bangladesh studies and Violence in Sri Lanka are at stake. (INTER)NATIONAL COLLABORATION Within the Dutch post-graduate network Non Western Social Sciences, CASA collaborates with the Centre of Non Western Studies (CNWS) and the Centre for Resource Studies for Human Development (CERES). The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) and CASA decided to organize supervision meetings for PhD students from both institutes. The first meeting took place in October 1993. Collaboration agreements have been established with the university of Salatiga, the Gadyah Mada University (Yogyakarta), the Oriental Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (Moscow), the History department of Hano University, the University of Beijing and Xiamen University. Within the framework of these agreements there is an exchange of faculty and PhD students, financial support of Asian studies and as the occasion occurs, joint supervision of PhD projects. PUBLICATIONS The publication of major and minor studies on Asia has been one of the main tasks of the editorial committee. At first, the publication of Monographs received first priority. Gradually, the emphasis shifted to the CAS series (Comparative Asian Studies). The CAS series consists of studies that consider social and economic problems in Asia from a comparative (regional or chronical) perspective. The editorial committee is also publishing the series CASA Documents (unpublished reports or MA theses). two Hundred copies of every volume published in the CAS series are sent to academic institutions in Asia, to built up a network of exchange relations DISSERTATIONS 1991 M. Rutten, 'Capitalist Entrepeneurs and Economic Diversification. Social profile of large farmers and rural industrialists in Central Gujarat, India' 1992 R. Sciortino, 'Care-takers of Cure. A study of health centre nurses in rural Java' 1992 N. den Tuinder, 'Population and Society in Kheda district (India), 1819-1921. A study of the economic context of demographic developments 1994 I. Abdullah, 'The Muslim Businenessmen of Janitom. Religious reform and economic modernization in a Central Javanese town' 1994 A. van Velzen, 'Who's the Boss? marginalisation and Power in Household Food Processing Enterprises, west Java, Indonesia' PUBLISHED WERTHEIM LECTURES 1990 A. Bteille, 'Some Observations on the comparative method' 1991 E.V. Daniel, 'Is there a Counterpoint to Culture?' 1992 B.R. O'G. Anderson, 'Long-Distance Nationalism' 1993 R. Guha, 'A Construction of Humanism in Colonial India' RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN CAS SERIES CAS 11 H. Streefkerk, 'On the Production of Knowledge' CAS 12 W.F. Wertheim, 'Comparative Essays on Asia and the West CAS 13 G.R. Knight, 'Colonial production in provincial Java' CAS 14 Asian Capitalist Entrepeneurs in the European Mirror' RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN WORKING DOCUMENTS WD 27 C. van Veggel, 'Data: Facts or Fiction? Bottlenecks in the information system of primary health care service in Central Java'