Audrey Amsellem

Audrey Amsellem is a Core Lecturer in Music Humanities. She received her PhD in Ethnomusicology from Columbia University in 2022. Originally from Paris, France, she began her undergraduate studies at community college before transferring to Columbia University to pursue a B.A in Music. She graduated cum laude and received Departmental Honors for her thesis “Songs of Dreams of Mankind” advised by Professor Fox in 2015, and received her M.A in 2017 with her thesis "Noise of Silent Machines: A Case Study of LinkNYC,” advised by Professor Ciucci and Professor Washburne. 

Dr. Amsellem’s research interests lie at the intersection of music, law and science and technology studies. Her dissertation, titled “Sound and Surveillance: The Making of the Neoliberal Ear,” advised by Professor Fox, investigates non-creative recording practices in the neoliberal age. Amsellem’s work is published in interdisciplinary journals such as Surveillance & Society and Law Text Culture. She presented her work at numerous conferences including at the Society for Ethnomusicology. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation's Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant in Science and Technology Studies, the 2021 SSN Early Career Researcher Award, and is a current member of the Open Voice Network at the Linux Foundation.

Dr. Amsellem teaches the core class Masterpieces of Western Music, and has taught a Teaching Scholar course she designed titled “Music, Sound and the Law.” She also teaches music courses at Rikers Island as part of the Justice-in-Education Initiative. She is the co-founder of the Organization of Music Graduate Students, which she led for two years, as well as the Music Humanities Working Group.