EDITORIAL

By Paul van der Velde
editor-in-chief


ASIA COMMITTEE OF THE ESF
The foundation in March of this year of the European Science Foundation Asia
Committee, which consists of 20 members of leading institutes and associations
in the field of Asian Studies, clearly demonstrates the growing awareness
among Asianists in Europe that close cooperation in Asian Studies is of vital
importance.
The Asia Committee will vigorously stimulate the scientific efforts in the
field of Asian Studies in Europe. Professor T. Svensson (NIAS) and professor
W.A.L. Stokhof (IIAS) have been appointed chairman and secretary respectively.
The secretariat of the ESF Asia Committee will be attached to the IIAS for a
period of four years.
The former secretary of the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the
Netherlands, J. Cohen, has earmarked a budget from the so-called International
Facility, for this facilitating task of the IIAS. Presently the IIAS is
engaged in talks with the Ministry about the amount of money to be allocated
to the IIAS for performing this European task. Dr M. Sparreboom, officer of
the ESF comments on the foundation of the Asia Committee. His article is the
first in a series of articles in which European scholars working in the field
of Asian Studies comment on Asian Studies in Europe.

A EUROPEAN DATABASE FOR ASIAN STUDIES
One of the tasks of the Asia Committee will be to chart Asian Studies in
Europe. One of the ways to do this is to develop a database which will contain
information on research and researchers working in the field of Asian Studies.
Enclosed in this issue of the IIASN Newsletter you will find a questionnaire
we kindly ask you to fill out. It will only take a few minutes of your time.
Please note that the postage is prepaid within Europe. In it we ask some very
basic information which will nevertheless give us a rough idea of the regional
and disciplinary specializations in the field of Asian Studies in Europe. In
the next Newsletter we hope to give you the results of this research. You will
find the outcome of a similar research done in the Netherlands on page 7.


INSULAR SOUTHWEST ASIA
In the previous issue of this newsletter I introduced Sandra Evers as our
editor Insular Southwest Asia. In her article she defines this area which has
not been a focal point of much scholarly research in the past. The obvious
reason for this is its geographical location between Africa and Asia.
Africanists argue that it belongs to Asia and Asianists in turn state that it
belongs to Africa. However, Evers clearly demonstrates that the area belongs
to Asia. The decision to found an international association for Malagasy
Studies was made during a recent conference in Leiden on Malagasy identity.


ASIAN CULTURE
To bridge the gap which too often exists between scholars working within
universities or institutes and those working in museums or cultural
foundations we have decided to include a section on Asian culture from this
issue onwards. The editor of the cultural pages is Renske de Jong. She has
studied art history at the University of Amsterdam where she obtained her M.A.
degree in 1993. Since December 1993 she has been attached to the Gate
Foundation, an organization which aims to stimulate the communication between
Western and non-Western modern art in general, and European and Asian art in
particular.

IIAS MOVES ITS HEADQUARTERS
As of November 1, 1994, the IIAS will have its headquarters at Nonnensteeg
1-3, Leiden. The IIAS occupies the topfloor. In the same building which
borders the botanical garden, the Research School CNWS, the Kern Institute,
and the Projects Division of the Department of Languages and Cultures of
Southeast Asia and Oceania are housed. The IIAS is grateful to the University
of Leiden which offers our office space free of charge.

EDITORIAL STAFF
The editorial staff has undergone some changes. Ingrid d'Hooghe, who moved to
Switzerland, has been replaced by Stefan Landsberger, researcher at the
Documentation and Research Centre for Contemporary China. Sandra Evers and
Renske de Jong were already mentioned. We also welcome Carol M. Hansen of the
Association of Asian Studies (Ann Arbor), who will provide us with information
about developments in the field of Asian Studies in the United States.
Likewise the IIAS Newsletter will provide the AAS Newsletter with information
on Asian Studies in Europe. In the next Newsletter we hope to introduce a
section on Central Asia. The position of the Central Asia editor is still
vacant. Thanks are duly extended to Ilse Lasschuijt who has been an intern
trainee at the IIAS from July till October and as assistant editor did a
wonderful job of preparing the copy for the press.