[Buddha-l] Establishment of Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre in ISEAS Singapore

[JKirkpatrick]

X-posted--interesting development in Singapore.
Joanna
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H-ASIA
September 23, 2009

Establishment of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre in the Institute
for Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
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From: Geoffrey Wade <gwade at iseas.edu.sg>


The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore has
recently
established a new Centre, named the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre,
which will
undertake research on historical interactions among Asian
societies and
civilizations. The Centre aims to serve as a forum for
comprehensive study
of the ways in which Asian polities and societies have interacted
over time
through religious, cultural, and economic exchanges as well as
diasporic
networks. The Centre was officially inaugurated by Nobel Laureate
Professor
Amartya Sen and Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo on 11
August 2009.

The Centre also plans to examine the manifestations of hybridity,
convergence and mutual learning in a globalizing Asia. It sees
the following
as it major aims:

   * To develop the "Nalanda idea" of building for contemporary
Asia an
     appreciation of Asian achievements and mutual learning, as
exemplified
     by the cosmopolitan Buddhist centre of learning in Nalanda,
as well as
     the "Sriwijaya idea" of Southeast Asia as a place of
mediation and
     linkages among the great civilizations.

  *  To encourage and develop skills needed to understand the
civilizations
     of Asia and their interrelationships.

  *  To build regional research capacities and infrastructure for
the study
     of the historical interactions among the civilizations and
societies of
     Asia.

The Centre, which is headed by Professor Tansen Sen, is an
affiliate project
of the program to revive Nalanda University in Bihar, India, a
Buddhist
university which thrived from the 7th to the 13th centuries. The
revived
University is a joint undertaking by the regional East Asia
Summit (EAS)
grouping of countries, and the project will be discussed at their
next
Summit.

A brochure on the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre can be found here:

      http://www.iseas.edu.sg/nsc/documents/NSC_brochure.pdf

Further details of the Centre are available on its website:

http://www.iseas.edu.sg/nsc/

Geoff Wade
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Singapore