Contact between Asia and the Nordic countries goes back at least 400 years. Scholarly interest and exchange between the two regions took time to develop, however. The explosion in academic learning from the 1960s dramatically changed this picture and by the end of the decade Asia was studied at a multitude of institutions scattered across the Nordic region.
In response, an institute was established now known as NIAS, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, tasked to support and provide focus to this fragmented scholarly environment. The institute opened its doors in 1968. An integral part of NIAS's work in the past five decades has been to encourage publication of Nordic Asia scholarship. In the past half century, about 500 different works have been published out of the institute. Some have had a huge international impact while other works have had impressive political/societal effects closer to home. Indeed, as a whole, it is agreed that the publishing work carried out at NIAS over the decades has boosted the global profile of Nordic scholarship on Asia beyond all expectations.
In celebration of 50 years of publishing at NIAS, this volume offers a selection of Nordic writing on Asia. The excerpts span the decades and the myriad fields within Asian Studies, with context and relevance offered by brief commentaries. Readers from all areas and disciplines will find much to tempt them in this banquet of Asia learning.
