On November 14th Håkan Wahlquist was awarded with the Hedin medal in gold by The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG) for his contributions on the history of science and anthropology of Central- and South Asia, especially for his research on Sven Hedin’s exploration and scientific field work. Read the full announcement on the SSAG web site.
Håkan Wahlquist is an important advisor and collaborator in the Sven Hedin Project and has been an active and brilliant Keeper of the Sven Hedin Foundation for the last 25 years. The Hedin medal have only been awarded to ten people since its inception and the full list of previous medalists can be downloaded here.
A seminar on Sven Hedin was organized by SSAG at the department of geography at Stockholm university in honor of this event. Philippe Forêt is an advisor and collaborator of the Sven Hedin Project and he asked me to make a joint presentation with him. Accordingly I was added to the list of presenters and made a short talk about the GIS-methods I have used for locating and re-photographing the places Hedin visited in Iran.
Presentations:
- Håkan Wahlquist: Gaining access to the field in Central Asia: Sven Hedin, Russia and Great Britain at the turn of the last century.
- Philippe Forêt: The 21st Century Sven Hedin.
- Lars Larsson: A Geographic Information System Approach to Sven Hedin.
- Bertil Nordenstam: Natural Sciences in Hedin’s Expeditions.
- Axel Odelberg: Hedin as Womanizer.
- Jan Romgard: Hedin and the Travelling University.
The seminar was followed by a dinner at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.
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Brita Hermelin and honoree
Håkan Wahlquist opening up the seminar with his keynote lecture at Stockholm University.
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- Bertil Nordenstam presenting and at the table is Staffan Rosén, moderator and secretary of the Sven Hedin Foundation
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- Håkan Wahlquist receives the Hedin medal in gold from professor Brita Hermelin, chairman of the SSAG.
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- The Hedin medal in gold with Hedin’s name and portrait.
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- The Hedin medal in gold: ”Av svenska sällskapet för antropologi och geografi”
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- Dinner at the The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in Stockholm.
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- Full name of the academy: ”Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien”.
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- Philippe Forêt, Senior Research Fellow at the Chair of Chinese Culture and Society at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland
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- Lars Larsson, explorer in Sven Hedin’s footsteps and grantee of the National Geographic Society
SSAG was founded under its present name in 1877, as an extension of the activities of the Association for Anthropology founded in 1873.
Publications: Geografiska Annaler, series A, Physical Geography, Geografiska Annaler, series B, Human Geography (both in English) , Årsboken Ymer (in Swedish). SSAG co-operates with local and professional associations of Geographers and Anthropologists in Sweden and is a member of EU- GEO, The European Geographical Society.
