Henry Frendo

Prof. Henry Joseph Frendo (born August 29, 1948) has been a Professor of Modern History at the University of Malta since 1992. Frendo is the author of several books, chapters in books, journal articles, reviews, editorials and television and radio productions. Frendo was also previously employed with the UNHCR as a Programme Officer, and was stationed in such places as Switzerland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. His main areas of research and interest are imperialism, nationalism, decolonization, post-colonialism, journalism, migration and ethnicity, in Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle-East and North Africa, especially since c. 1798. He is also much interested in bilingualism and the relationship of language to nationality, culture and statehood.

Academic and Professional Life

In 1969 Frendo began studying his general B.A in Maltese, English and History at the University of Malta where he was the top placed student within the B.A cohort. During the 1960s Frendo was also involved in a number of Youth and Student groups. From 1968-1969 Frendo was Chairman of a Student-led national campaign called ‘Djar ghall-Maltin’ (Houses for the Maltese), which aimed to secure low-cost housing and land planning in the wake of newly-achieved independence from the British.

In 1970 Frendo completed his B.A in History with First Class Honours from the University of Malta. From 1970-1971 Frendo was made Editor-in-Chief of daily Maltese newspaper called Il-Hajja (The Life) doubling its readership. In 1972 Frendo accepted an offer of a university lectureship cum Commonwealth Scholarship at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In 1973 Frendo then went on to graduate in a M.A in History from the University of Malta writing his thesis on the language-culture clash in the 19th – 20th century between traditional italianita’ – latinita’ adherents and utilitarian assimilationist pro-English supporters and the emergence of Maltese language. In this same year, Frendo became resident at University College at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Frendo received his D.Phil (OXON) in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 1976. In his doctoral thesis, Frendo wrote on the formation of political parties in Malta under British rule, which was later published in his 1979 book Party Politics in a Fortress Colony. Following this Frendo returned to Malta for two years from 1976-1978 to be promoted from Assistant Lecturer to Lecturer in History with the University of Malta.

In 1978 Frendo accepted a position with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as Information Officer at their Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Here Frendo assisted with regular UNHCR newscasts and became coordinator of a fortnightly publication called Refugee Update, which covered extensive stories including the raging ‘Boat People’ crisis in the South China Sea. In 1979 Frendo was promoted to the position of Programme Officer in the Middle East and North Africa section whilst still in Geneva. During his tenure here Frendo was assigned by Headquarters to liaise in mass voluntary repatriation operations in Zimbabwe from neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. In 1982 Frendo was assigned as the UNHCR’s Deputy Representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt. Here Frendo was awarded indefinite appointment by Kofi Annan then serving as Chief of Personnel. From 1984-1985 Frendo was assigned as Head of Mission in Papua New Guinea where he was responsible for the first international assistance agreement between the UNHCR and the Papua New Guinea government.

In 1985 Frendo accepted a permanent residence visa from the Australian High Commissioner, which prompted Frendo to resign from the UNHCR and move to Melbourne with his young family. From 1985 to 1988 Frendo was Senior Lecturer in European political development, Commonwealth history and Ethnic Studies at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. At this same time, Frendo also worked as a consultant with the Australian National University in Canberra on the Australian bicentennial social encyclopaedia, and as a consultant to the Victor Ethnic Affairs Commission where he set up Victoria’s Legal Interpreting Services. In 1988 Frendo returned to Malta where he was appointed as Associate Professor of Modern History with the University of Malta. In 1989 Frendo accepted a Fellowship with the University of Salzburg, Austria.

Since 1988 Frendo has been involved in extensive television, radio and journalist work. He became producer of a historical documentary series on political, social and cultural developments of Malta during the 1950s. He also became the producer and presenter of Il-Gimgha Gewwa (Inside this Week) on national television - a two-hour weekly live discussion programme on current affairs and issues. He has also written extensively in his capacity as a weekly columnist and features writer for many Maltese newspapers, especially Malta News, It-Torca (The Torch), Illum (Today), Il-mument (The Moment), In-Nazzjon Taghna (Our Nation) and The Sunday Times of Malta. He was also producer and presenter of a weekly interview-based radio programme for the Voice of the Mediterranean Radio Station, Floriana, Malta.

Frendo started off 1992 by being appointed a full-ranked Professor in Modern History at the University of Malta. In this same year, Frendo also appeared as a Guest Professor with the University of Augsburg in Austria lecturing in their Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology. In 1993 Frendo was appointed Chairman of the European Cultural Foundation’s Malta branch, a post which he held until 1997. From 1994-2001 Frendo served as Mayor of Attard (Malta) and as the President of the College of Mayors. In 1996 Frendo was elected a Life Member of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge whilst there as a Visiting Fellow. From 1996 to 1998, Frendo was Chairman of the Euro-Med Group and was Head of Delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) for two terms.

In the summer of 2000 Frendo received a Fulbright Scholarship to lecture at Loyal University in New Orleans (USA). In 2001 Frendo became the Vice-President of the CLRAE. In this same year, Frendo was appointed as the Maltese Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs’ Chairman of the Refugee Appeals Board in Valletta (Malta). In 2002 Frendo became a Visiting Professor at Indiana State University (USA). Frendo is also Director of the Malta University Broadcasting Services Limited, where he also serves as Co-Editor of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies, Editor of the Maltese History journal ‘Storja’ and isVice-President of the University of Malta’s History Society.

Since 2005 he has also been extensively involved with Centre of European Policy Studies 5-year Challenge programme on ‘Freedom and Security’. In 2006 Frendo was appointed Guest Professor at the University of Enna (Italy) where he lectures in contemporary History and Politics of the Mediterranean. Frendo also is the convenor of two upcoming international conferences on Migration, asylum and security: the Eastern and Southern border experiences; and The European Mind: Narrative and Identity for the International Society for the Study of European Ideas. He speaks Maltese, English, French, Italian and Arabic.

Select list of Publications

BOOKS

The Press and the Media in Malta (ENTIRE - The European Network for Trans-Integration Research, Working Papers in International Journalism, Dortmund Univ. Press, 2004)

Europe Since 1945 (Advisory Editor; Encyclopaedia General Editor: Bernard Cook, Loyola/New Orleans; Garland, New York & London, 2001, 2 vols.);

The Origins of Maltese Statehood: A Case Study of Decolonization in the Mediterranean (Peg, Valletta, 1999, 2nd ed., 2000, pp.730 – with an Introduction by the Head of State, Professor Guido de Marco)

Malta: Culture and Identity (Ed., with Oliver Friggieri; Ministry for the Arts, Valletta, 1994 –identity, language, literature, archaeology, natural heritage, architecture, art, music, folklore, law, medicine, economy, migration; with a Foreword by Minister Michael Refalo)Party Politics in a Fortress Colony: The Maltese Experience (Midsea, Valletta, 1979, 2nd ed., 1991)

The Australian People: An Encyclopaedia of the Nation, its People and their Origin (Research Coordinator/Victoria, and Contributor; General Editor, James Jupp, ANU, Canberra; Angus & Robertson, Sydney, Auckland & London, 1988)

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

‘Political Party Norms in European Law: The Case of Malta’ in Parteien im europaischen Vergleich, ed. Martin Morlock, Institut fur deutsches und europaisches Parteienrecht, Univ of Dusseldorf (a comparative study of European laws governing political parties, forthcoming 2006)

‘The Ghost of Borg Pisani: Awaiting Redemption, Whose Traitor Was He?” (Bologna Univ project on culture and memory, publication forthcoming 2006)

‘Fascism and Colonialism: Luigi Maria Ugolini and Malta in the 1930s’ (International Conference on History and Archaeology, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Valletta, 2006, proceedings being published, ed. N. Vella et, 2006)

‘Shifting National Identities on the Mediterranean frontier: The case of Malta’ (forthcoming 2006, Mediterranean Europe, Temps et Espaces de l’Europe, Univ di Studi di Firenze, CISL/Fiesole, 2004)

‘Imperial Fortresses and Native Peoples: the Gibraltar-Malta Nexus’ (forthcoming 2006, Mediterranean Institute/Univ of Malta-Euromed/UNESCO ‘La Navigation du Savoir project’, ed.S. Mercieca et)

‘Problematiche Mediterranee’ (Provincia di Agrigento, ed. G. Allotta, 2004)

‘National and European Identities in the New Member States: Can national identities merge into a European identity?’ (European Historians’ Symposium, Berlin History Museum, in German translation, CD, internet website, 2004)

Entries in The New Oxford History of National Biography (OUP, Sept. 2004)

‘Life during the “British” period: Strains of Maltese Europeanity’, in Malta: Roots of a Nation (ed. Kenneth Gambin, Heritage Malta, Valletta, 1 May 2004), 101-118.

‘Malte’, Les finances locales dans les dix pays aderant a l’Union europeenne en 2004 (ed. Micheline Falzon, Marie-Pierre Peretti et Dominique Hoorens, Dexia Credit Local, Editions Dexia, 75015 Paris), 231-246.

Entries in Europe Since 1945 (ed. Bernard A. Cook, Garland, New York, 2001, 2 vols.)

"Can a new history save Europe from its past?", in Towards a Pluralist and Tolerant Approach to Teaching History: A Range of Sources and new Didactics (Ed., Council for Cultural Co-operation/Conseil de la Cooperation Culturelle, Strasbourg, 1999, repr. 2000), 27-44; French ed. entitled: Pour une perspective pluraliste et tolerante de l’enseignement de l’histoire – diversite des sources et didactiques nouvelles (including the role of archives, IT, museums, oral history, cinema, TV, local history, school visits sur place, school projects, textbooks, etc)

"Les Français à Malte, 1798-1800: réflexions sur une insurrection", in Bonaparte, les îls méditerrannéens et l'appel de l'Orient (Ed. François Pomponi, Cahiers de la Mediterranee/Centre de la Mediterranee Moderne et Contemporaire, Univ. de Nice, 1999), 143-151

"L'Autonomie Locale Maltaise", in La democratie locale Nord-Sud: la Charte Europeenne de l'autonomie locale en action (Ed., Conseil de l'Europe, Strasbourg, 1996), 43-47

"The Legacy of Colonialism: The Experience of Malta and Cyprus”, in The Development Process in Small States (Eds., D. G Lockhart, D. Drakakis-Smith and J. Schembri, Routledge, London, 1993] , 151-160

"Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar: Self Identity in the British Mediterranean", in Islands and Enclaves: Nationalisms and Separatist Pressures in Island and Littoral Contexts (Ed., G. W. Trompf, Sterling, New Delhi, 1993)

"Malta's ‘Coming Home': Edging Towards European Integration", in Christopher Pollaco, Malta-EEC Relations 1970-1990 (Mireva, Msida, Malta, 1992), i-v

"Language and Nationhood in the Maltese Experience: Some Comparative and Theoretical Approaches", in Collegium Melitense Quatercentenary Celebrations, 1592-1992 (Eds., R. Ellul Micallef and S. Fiorini, Univ. of Malta, 1992), 439-470

"Plurality and Polarity: Early Italian Fascism in Maltese Colonial Politics", in Malta: A Case Study in International Cross-Currents (Eds., S. Fiorini & V. Mallia-Milanes, Univ. of Malta, 1991), 227-240

"The Second World War: A Short Introduction to The Epic of Malta", in The Epic of Malta: A Pictorial Survey of Malta during the Second World War (Ed.: Odhams (Watford) Ltd., c. 1943, Foreword by Winston Churchill, facsimile ed., Malta, 1990), i-vi

"Germany 1949-1989: Constitutional Safeguards for Democratic Development", in Federal Republic of Germany 40th Anniversary (Ed., Victor H. Sammut, German-Maltese Circle [http://www.germanmaltesecircle.org] , Valletta, 1989] , 12-14

"Australia's Maltese Language Press", in The Ethnic Press in Australia (Eds., Abe Ata & Colin Ryan, Footscray Institute of Technology, Melbourne, 1989), 125-136

"Indigenous East Africans", in The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (Ed., James Jupp, Canberra, 1988), 363-364

"The Condition of Malta after 1945", in The Australian People [op.cit., 1988] , 696-697"Maltese Colonial Identity: Latin Mediterranean or British Empire?", in The British Colonial Experience, 1800-1964: The Impact on Maltese Society (Ed., V. Mallia-Milanes, Malta, 1988), 185-214

"Religion and Ethnic Identity in the Maltese Australian Community", in Religion and Ethnic Identity: An Australian Study (Ed., Abe Ata, Spectrum, Melbourne, 1988), 177-205

"Freedom after Independence: A Western European or a Third World model for the Maltese Islands?", in Malta and the Security of the Mediterranean Region (Ed., Charles Lichenstein, ISC, New York, 1987), 89-104

"Malta", in Lexikon zur Geschichte der Parteien in Europa (Ed., Frank Wende, Kroner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1981), 395-399

"Refugees", in The 1980 Britannica Book of the Year (Chicago, 1980), 593

"An Interview with Andrei Amalrik", in The Human Rights Issue is a Human Involvement (Ed., Richard Muscat, Azad, Sliema, Malta, 1978), 29-39

"Milestones in the Development of Mass Communications in Malta", in Manipulation of the Mass Media (Ed., Gunther von Lojewski, Azad, Sliema, Malta, 1978), 19-30

“The Influence of Religion on Maltese Society” (mimeographed paper, conference proceedings on islands and small states, convenor Lino Briguglio, Ruskin College, Oxford/Univ. of Malta, 1977);

“Tourism: Neocolonialism?” (mimeographed paper, conference proceedings on tourism, society and development, convenor Jeremy Boissevain, Univ. of Malta/Univ. of Amsterdam, 1977)

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS

‘History and Citizenship in a European Experience’, Keynote speech, European Standing Conference of History Teachers Associations/Conference Permanente Europeenne des Associations de Professeurs d’Histoire, Dolmen Hotel, Malta, Mar. 2006, publication forthcoming in Clio, The Hague, 2006

‘I Doveri dell’Uomo: Mazzinian Influences on Maltese Nationalism under British Rule’ (International Conference on Giuseppe Mazzini, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Valletta, Proceedings being published in Melita Historica, 2006)

“Coexistence in Modernity: A Euromed Perspective”, The European Legacy, Oxford, vol.10, no.3, 2005, 161-177 (Keynote speech delivered at the Univ of Navarra, Spain, 2004)

“Czars, Knights and Republicans: The Malta Question in Paul I’s Time”, Storja 2004, 62-75 (paper delivered in St Petersburg, reprinted from Ruskii Vopros, Brno, Czech Republic, 2002, n. 3)

“Ports, Ships and Money: The Origins of Corporate Banking in Valletta”, Journal of Mediterranean Studies, Valletta, vol. 12, n. 2 (2002), 327-350

"The Naughty European Twins of Empire: The Constitutional Breakdown in Malta and Cyprus, 1930-1933, The European Legacy, Boston, iii, 1 [1998] , 45-52 (Public Lecture delivered at Cambridge University, UK)

"Everyday Life in ‘British' Malta", Storja 1998, 37-47

"The EU Feeling: Forward Movement Towards Greater Collaboration", European Union Newsletter (Malta Delegation), xxii, 12 (1996), 8-10

"Malte: un modele de la mediterranee europeenne", Technopolis Mediterranee, Paris, I (1996), 40-41

"Britain's European Mediterranean: Language, Religion and Politics in Lord Strickland's Malta, 1927-1930", History of European Ideas, Oxford, xxi, 1 [1995] , 47-65

"Intra-European Colonial Nationalism: The Case of Malta, 1922-1927", Melita Historica, xi, 1 (1992), 79-93

"Italy and Britain in Maltese Colonial Nationalism", History of European Ideas, Oxford, xv, 4-6 (1992), 733-739

"Maltese-German Relations, 1965-1990", in 25th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Malta and the Federal Republic of Germany (Special Supplement in The Sunday Times of Malta, Valletta, 1990] , 2-4

"The U.N. and the Refugees: Should Irian Jayan refugees be forcibly repatriated?", Quadrant, Sydney, xxxii, 6 (1988), 24-29

"Freedom after Independence: The Case of Malta", World Review, Brisbane, xxvi, 2 [1987] , 37-68

"The Tutu-Ruxton Controversy: Australia, Blacks and Refugees", Migration Action, Melbourne, ix. 1 (1987), 27

"Messages from Mintoff's Malta: The Grenada of the Mediterranean", Quadrant, Sydney, xxx, 12 [1986] , 18-33

‘Vocational Training in Egypt: Rene’ is on his way’', Refugees, Geneva, 1984 (published simultaneously in French and Arabic); see also articles based on interviews with me by e.g. Malak El Chichini, ‘Egypt: What future for refugee students?’, News from UNHCR, n. 14, Feb. 1983, p. 5; Jeffrey L. Bartholet, ‘The Disinherited: Refugees in Egypt’, Cairo Today, Apr. 1984, 30-36, 66

"Three Claps and a Big Smile: The Repatriation of Zimbabwean Refugees from Mozambique", Perspektiv, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Sliema, xii (1980), 46-53 (reprinted from UNHCR News, Geneve, 2, 1980)

"Resettling Indo-Chinese Refugees: A Look at Four Countries of Asylum - France, Switzerland, Canada, U.S.A.", UNHCR News (Special Asia Issue), Geneve, 2, 1979 (reprinted from UNHCR News, 1, 1979)

"Maltese Political Parties 1880-1978", Perspektiv, KAF, Sliema, vi [1979] , 32-48

"Marxism and Democracy: Complementary or Contradictory?", Perspektiv, KAF, Sliema, iii (1978), 41-47

"The Economy and the Environment", in conference proceedings on ‘Man's Changing Abode: Human Aspects’, Sonnenberg Bulletin, St Andreasburg, FRG, 8 (1979), 4-5

"The Anti-Colonialist Crusade: A Brief History of the Nationalist Party", Perspektiv, KAF, Sliema, i (1977), 15-21

"Language and Nationality in an Island Colony: Malta", Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism/Revue Canadienne des Etudes sur le Nationalisme, Charlottetown, Univ. of Prince Edward Island, iii, 1 (1975), 22-31; translated into Catalan by Cesari Lleiza for L'Avenc, Barcelona, 9 (1981), 64-70