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G E N E R A L N E WS The present economic crisis in Asia could lead to an increase in the legal research on Asia, as most of the policy discussions are in fact focusing on the urgency to establish a more reliable legal environment. A good opportunity for Christoph Antons to review some of the developments of the last few years and to examine some of the problems encountered. - (p.3)
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Studies on Southeast Asian textiles have been gathering momentum for some time now. A wide range of scholars coming from diverse disciplines are becoming attracted to this fairly new field of research. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, Burma possesses a large variety of indigenous textiles that are not only generally unknown to the outside world, but are also ignored within the country itself (p.29)
24 0 Internet developments are starting to affect the way international relations are conducted, including those between Europe and Asia. While the private sector has taken the lead in advancing Internet, initiatives from official organizations often complement the efforts of the former. César de Prado Yepes reports - (p.4)
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C E NT R AL ASI A The Stockholm Forum for Central Asian Studies (FoCAS) is an association created in order to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogues between scholars carrying out research on earlier and current sociocultural processes in the Central Asian region. - (p.12}
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A S I A N ART Some highlights of current exhibitions ofAsian Art and the Asian Art Agenda in which forthcoming exhibitions and performances on Asian art are announced.
Pink Pages 11 AS News from the HAS
49 I C A S N E WS This special eight-page section devoted to the First International Convention of Asia Scholars lists all panels and papers selected by the Programme Committee.
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53 ESF AS I A C O M M I T T E E
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Labelled as ‘Scheduled Tribes’ or ‘Backward Classes’, tribal communities have been given several safeguards by the Indian Constitution. Their cultural heritage, however, has often been neglected in their own country. Fortunately, unique collections of some of these tribal communities, like the Santal, have been preserved in West European museums.- (p.14)
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During the Dutch colonial period in Sri Lanka, various artefacts found their way into Dutch private collections and museums. Professor P. Prematillake has recently made an attempt to categorize these artefacts - (p.13}
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News from the ESF Asia Committee
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While Western colonialism has received a great deal of scholarly and political attention, China’s colonialism has not. A study of China’s internal and external expansion must depend mainly on a perusal of official Chinese sources. There are few if any first-hand accounts of native societies by missionaries, traders, or adventurers which colonial historians could use to their advantage, (p.32)
V A C A N C I ES Vacancies in the field of Asian Studies
62 AGENDA The International Conference Agenda
63 SUPPLEMENT
Developments in the Co-ordination o f Asian Collections.
During the last decade, democracy in the Republic of China in Taiwan (ROC) has become a dangerous political adventure because, while the government in Beijing opposes every gesture of Taiwanese identity and threatens military intervention should Taiwan declare independence, leading ROC officers warn officials that they will not defend an independent Taiwan. Alexander Wanek reports, (p.33)
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In April 1597, the HAS and the Platform of Asia Collections in the Netherlands (PAC) organized a workshop on the ‘Developments in the Co-ordination of Asian Collections’. The workshop was attended by librarians from major Dutch libraries containing Asia collections, who discussed their experiences with representatives from other countries and explored possible future directions for a more effective co-ordination in the field of Asian collections. Four papers presented at the workshop are included in this section.
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COMPLETE LIST OF Hi{ ■ H The Ko’a Video Project is concerned with an extensive documentation of the ceremonial cycle of Ko’a, one of fourteen territorial, ceremonial, and political domains on the small volcanic island of Palu’e, located off the north coast of central Flores in eastern Indonesia, (p.24)
PANELS & PAPERS
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