Hiwot tefera biography

Hiwot Teffera is an Ethiopian Author and a former member of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP).
Born and raised in Harar, Ethiopia.
Tower in the Sky is her memoir of the time: it takes the reader through the heady campus politics of the Addis Ababa of 1974.

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On 25 October 2020 ‘HoHE chapter’ webcasted a discussion on Hiwot Teffera’s “Mentwab” with the presence of the author and showcasing Meseret Abeje and Solomon Teshome PhD as discussants and Desalegn Seyoum as a moderator. Hiwot’s book ‘Mentwab’ published in 2020 as the third publication from her series of writings since her autobiographical note of the 2012’s “Tower in the Sky”. Containing seventeen chapters, the genre of the book “Mentwab” can be categorized as historical novel. As usual, the book amassed admiration for the thriving excellence of the author-Hiwot Teffera. Her audacity was premised on to authoring on women causes with paying all the price of researching from the grass root level in Gondar. To one’s surprise she made several trip to know the dialect, uncover the legend of Mentwab from elders.
Historically, Mentwab (lived between 1706-June 27, 1773)was Queen a native of Quara and the wife of Emperor Bäkafa (r.1721-1730), dominated Gondarine court politics in the reigns of her son Aşé Iyasu II (r.1730-1755) and her grandson King Iyoas (r.1755-1769) . Historical acco

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Pierre Guidi

Autobiographies and the writing of women’s history: the example of Hiwot Teffera’s Tower in the Sky

Abstract

As archives, autobiographies allow analysis of the reciprocal relations

Résumé

[Note:

Researcher, Centre Population & Développement (CEPED), Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), Université de Paris, France. Contact : pierre. guidi@ ird. fr. The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and Lindsay Randall for their careful reading and helpful suggestions.

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Annales d’Éthiopie, 2020, 33, 217-231

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218 Pierre Guidi

Autobiographies are one of the most popular literary genres in Ethiopia. Senior civil servants, military personnel, intellectuals, and other direct witnesses to events write their life stories, and give testimonies about their experiences and the historical events they lived through. These are sometimes written to justify and legitimize their actions. Writing biographies is also a common practice in Ethiopia, in and outside of the academy, where several BA and MA theses are dedicated to

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“Chasing the elusive past”: Hiwot Teffera’s Tower in the Sky

“You will find them at bus stations pretending to read newspapers, telling the time, scratching the tips of their noses. In a cafe, they order either tea or coffee. They whisper among themselves. They look shabby – girls with Afros, netelas, and sneakers, and boys with worn out jeans and sneakers.”
A State official’s description of the members of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP)

In 1974, the regime of the Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, was overthrown in a revolution. Left-wing student movements played a significant part in the revolution, primarily through the vehicle of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (the EPRP). However, soon after the revolution, the military junta – the Derg – seized power. When the EPRP condemned the Derg as standing in the way of a true people’s democracy, the stage was set for a bloody conflict. After an ill-fated attempt by the EPRP to assassinate Derg leader Mengistu Haile