In conjunction with Columbia’s Office of Global Programs and Columbia Global Centers | Paris, the Amman Center held the eighth offering of the annual Arabic language program and the fourth offering of the Columbia MENA Summer Institute in May – June, 2018. The programs are run by Taoufik Ben-Amor, Gordon Gray Jr. Senior Lecturer in Arabic Studies, and Madeleine Dobie, Professor of French and Romance Philology, who leads the cultural seminar.
This program builds on efforts in the humanities and social sciences to bring Middle East and North Africa Studies into a closer dialogue. Drawing on the resources of Amman and Paris, it allows students to hone their language skills while being exposed to the most recent developments in the scholarship on the Middle East and North Africa, and to cultural products from the region including cinema, art, music, urban planning and architecture.
The nine-week intensive program offers a multi-faceted introduction to the languages, culture, and history of the Middle East and North Africa. During the first part of the MENA Summer Institute, students spent time in Amman learning Arabic and attending seminars that examine the interrelatedness of the Mashrek and the Maghreb through various disciplines.
The second part of the program took place in Paris, whereby students continued to study Arabic and examine various themes. They were given the opportunity to learn Mashreki dialect in Amman and Maghrebi Darija in Paris.
