Taoufik Ben-Amor
Department of Middle Eastern South Asian and African Studies
Gordon Gray Jr Senior Lecturer in Arabic Studies
Director, Columbia Arabic Summer Program in Amman
Faculty Profile
B.A., University of Tunis I (1985); Doctorate, University of Tunis I (1991). Prof. Ben Amor specializes in Arabic language and linguistics, language and identity, Arab music, and music in Sufism. His research combines his interests in music, language and identity in the Arab world through the study of lyrics.
His most recent publication is Developing Writing Skills in Arabic (Routledge, 2012), and the papers "Language through Literature" and “The Making of Tradition: Standardization of the Lyrics of the Tunisian Andalusian Malouf.” He published a textbook on Tunisian Arabic in 1988 and a composition manual in 1990. Other papers he wrote include “States of Mind: Music in Islamic Sufi rituals,” “The Politics of Language and the Formalization of the Iraqi Maqam,” and “Code Switching in Algerian Rai Music.” Prof. Ben Amor is currently working on a project titled The Making of Tradition: Language, Music and Identity in the Arab World. Professor Ben Amor is also an active musician and music producer.
