IOWC PhD Student
Facil Tesfaye
Facil, who holds an undergraduate diploma in African Studies and Political Science from Humboldt University, Berlin and an MA in Political Science from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), is undertaking a doctorate at the Indian Ocean World Centre in McGill”s Department of History on “Statistical Practices & Human Rights Abuses in Rwanda and Zanzibar.” He has gained a number of scholarly awards including a Research Scholarship at the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST), Montréal (2005-6), a prize for academic excellence at UQAM (2006) IOWC/McGill fellowship (2007) and the McGill PhD fellowship (2008). He speaks fluent Amharic, English, French and German.
Facil has considerable experience as an organizer, teacher and researcher. His work experience includes attachments as a documentalist to the European Community delegation to Addis Abeba (1993-7). While studying in Berlin, he served on the administrative councils of the African Students Union (1999) and Ecumenical Centre for Foreign Students (2001-02), as well as helping to organize a conference on Religious Plurality in Ethiopia (“Religiöse Pluralität in Afrika ausgehend vom Beispiel Äthiopiens”) at Humboldt University. He has served as a Research Assistant to Professor Rainer Mackensen of the Department of Social Sciences, at the Technische Universität, Berlin (2003-4), and as a Tutor at the Centre Paolo Freire, Department of Political Science, UQAM (2007). In addition, he was a Teaching Assistant to Professors Gwyn Campbell and Matthew Schnurr, both of the Department of History at McGill University (2007-2008), as well as to Professor Jean-Pierre Beaud of the Department of Political Science, UQAM (2005-2006). He has presented papers at a number of international conferences (see below). He also recently recieved the Provost’s Graduate Fellowship (2008-2009) from McGill University and the Arts Insights Graduate Research Award (2008) from the Faculty of Arts, McGill University.
His Publications Include:
"Sur la question de la population du Rwanda. De l'occupation allemande au lendemain du genocide." Note de Recherche. (CIRST, Montréal) 1(2009).
"Statistik und Genozid in Ruanda: Wechselbeziehungen" in Josef Ehmer, Ursula Ferdinand & Juergen Reulecke (eds.), Herausforderung Bevoelkerung: Zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denkens ueber die Bevoelkerung vor, im und nach dem "Dritten Reich" (Wiesbaden: Verlag fuer Sozialwissenschaften, 2007),341-352
“The Rwandan Peacekeeping Experience: the “Prostitution” of a concept?” in Les operations de paix: de Suez à Kandahar. Note de Recherche (CEPES, Montréal) 33 (2007), 25-80
“Methoden und Theoreme sozialwissenschaftlicher Bevölkerungsforschung in Deutschland um 1930” (with Rainer Mackensen, Ursula Ferdinand, Michael Engberding, Katrin Hunsicker) in Rainer Mackensen & Jürgen Reulecke (eds.), Das Konstrukt “Bevölkerung" vor, im und nach dem “Dritten Reich” (Wiesbaden: Verlag fuer Sozialwissenschaften, 2005),108-110
“Weisser Mann, dunkles Herz” (with Constance Frey), Der Tagesspiegel 16/02/2004
“Die EU-Osterweiterung und die Zukunft der europäischen Entwicklungszusammen arbeit,” Ansaetze 2 (2004),12-13
“EU Bulletin of the Delegation of the European Commission to Ethiopia” 36 (Addis Abeba: Delegation of the EU to Ethiopia, 2000), editor
His Conference Papers Include:
"The Dark Side of 'Counting': Statistical Practices and Human Rights Abuses in Rwanda and Zanzibar". STANDD Talk Series. McGill University, Montreal. (September 25, 2009)
"'Wonders of the African World' or African-American Afrocentrism: Re-framing East African Societies and East African History in a Wider Historiographic Debate". AEGIS Conference. Leipzig, Germany (June 4-7 2009).
"Debt and slavery: The Indian Credit System in Zanzibar and the East African Slave Export Trade in the 19th century." International Conference on Debt and Slavery. McGill University, Montreal (May 7-9 2009).
"Identitées meutrières"? Les conséquences des politiques identitaires Africaines Post-coloniales.' Canadian Association of African Studies Annual Conference, Queens University, Kingston (May 1-4, 2009).
"Mapping the Rwandan Population 1991-2002: GIS, Census, Genocide." Second Indian Ocean World Centre Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference on Africa, McGill University, Montreal (April 27, 2009).
"Ethiopian Historiography in the 1990s: The emergence of contesting narratives", Canadian Association of African Studies Annual Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton (May 1-4, 2008).
"The discovery of the indigenous population in Rwanda-Urundi: A Glimpse into the Early 20th Century Belgian Colonial Reports", First Indian Ocean World Centre Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference on Africa, Montreal, (April 28, 2008).
"Tout ce qui se mesure s’améliore…?", 75th ACFAS International Congress, Université du Quebec à Trois Rivière, QC (May, 2007).
"Les opérations de maintien de paix au Rwanda: La 'prostitution' d’un concept?", Les Opérations de paix: De Suez à Kandahar, CEPES, UQAM, Montreal, QC (October 06).
"Statistiques et génocides au Rwanda: Des liens?", 10e Colloque des Études Avancées, CIRST, UQAM, Montreal, QC (May 2006).
"The EU Enlargment and the Future of European Development Aid", Kirchlicher Entwicklungsdienst (KED), Brussels, Belgium (February 2004).
"La Situation des étrangers à Berlin.", Interculturalité et Migrations dans l’Union Européenne, INALCO, Paris (April, 1999).
