Richard Jankowsky

Richard Jankowsky is a Professor in the Department of Music at Tufts University, part of the School of Arts and Sciences. He previously served as a faculty member at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His research focuses on the intersection of music, ritual, and power in North Africa, particularly exploring music’s role in healing, preserving marginalized histories, and fostering transcendent experiences. He holds a BA in Anthropology and Music from Tufts University (1995) and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Chicago (2004).

His work includes seminal publications like Ambient Sufism (2021), which received the Alan Merriam Book Prize, and Stambeli (2010), recognized with multiple honors. He has been a two-time National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow and has received grants from the American Institute for Maghreb Studies and the Fulbright Program. His research integrates fieldwork-based methods, examining cyclicity, density, and transformation in trance rituals.

Professional activities include organizing events like the Noor Ensemble Mawlid Concerts and serving on academic committees such as the Analytical Approaches to World Music Conference Program Committee. He teaches courses like Music, Trance, & Consciousness and Soundworlds of North Africa, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to music studies.

His awards also include the L. Carl Brown Book Prize Honorable Mention and a Finalist placement in the American Academy of Religion Book Prize on Religion and the Arts. He has contributed to encyclopedic volumes and peer-reviewed journals, advancing global understanding of North African and Middle Eastern musical traditions.