Welcome to the website of Mohamed-Salah Omri, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at St John’s College. The site contains Omri’s current and past research. It also gathers Omri’s media publications and appearances as well as his other writings. The site serves as an archive of unpublished research material, a resource and space for debate and discussion. As such, it is intended as a living link with readers and viewers in academia and beyond it.

Tarafud or Confluency

If I were to single out one guiding thread to the site, it would be the term tarafud or confluency, a concept-word coined by blending the Latin-based “confluence” and the Arabic “rafd”. Confluence suggests flowing with and gathering in one place, while rafd points to support, giving and hospitality. In the field of knowledge, tarafud designates the relationships among knowledges, texts, theories and methods, away from hierarchy, domination and one-dimensional traffic.  In a sense, tarafud is also a way of being in the world or, more precisely, in the two worlds, and in their intersections. (More on tarafud can be found here and here). The various interests and undertakings, found under the tabs for projects, blogs, publications and media, are a bit like streams, which flow into each other. These streams contain my publicly disseminated work as well as unpublished essays, draft papers, lectures, collaborative ventures and occasional musings. I put it all out to the public, despite the shortcomings, aware that I may have neither the time nor the energy to edit, improve or complete many of the interventions. For these reasons, the website is conceived like the narrative of a journey with stops and stations, and aims to allow visitors to come along for a full tour or to stop at what interests them, read, view, comment, critique, download or share.