Anthropology means critical scrutiny—an interview with Stephan Kloos

I should have met Stephan Kloos because we both work at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, but in fact we met at a common friend’s party and only later realised we had seen each other quite often before in the Academy. After that, I started having a look at his work. Departing from his wonderful website, all his work is dedicated to the anthropology of Tibetan medicine, especially of Tibetan medicine in exile. Kloos 2013, for instance, investigates on how it ended up being recognised, in India, in the West and in the Tibetan community as a “medical system” and how this concept involves a strategy and the self-construction of a new “Tibetan” identity —once the Tibetan identity could no longer be determined on a geographical basis— as related to Buddhist ethics, i.e., to one’s altruistic attitude towards the others.

Habilitation in Italy (results)

You can read here the results regarding the Italian “Habilitation” process. Unlike in other parts of the world, the Habilitation has been introduced in Italy only in 2012 and it is twofold:

you can find here the results of those who submitted their work in order to be judged worthy of becoming Associate Professor (e.g., Maria Piera Candotti, Claudio Cicuzza, Marco Franceschini, Cristina Pecchia, Tiziana Pontillo and many others, including myself)

and here the results of those who submitted their works in order to be judged worthy of becoming Full Professor (e.g., Fabrizia Baldissera, Anna Filigenzi, Giacomella Orofino, Alberto Pelissero, Francesco Sferra, Federico Squarcini and many others).

You might also know that the whole process has led to controversial opinions. Comments?

One Year PG Diploma in Sanskrit Computational Linguistics

The Department of Sanskrit Studies of the University of Hyderabad introduces a new programme “P.G. Diploma in Sanskrit Computational Linguistics” under the Innovative Scheme of UGC from 2014–15.
GOAL: To train Sanskrit scholars in the emerging field of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics showing the relevance of Indian grammatical theories to the field of Computational Linguistics, thereby bridging the gap between the past and the present.