Rahel Aima

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Rahel Aima is a cultural critic and researcher whose work interrogates the intersections of urbanism, visual culture, and post-oil futurity, with a particular focus on the Gulf region. Her most-cited paper, “Life on Mars” (2018), exemplifies her distinctive approach: a deep, archival excavation of Dubai’s mid-20th-century identity, challenging the city’s dominant narrative of hyper-modernity. By analyzing a single photograph from the early 1970s, Aima reveals a “sleepy, slightly oily glamour” of bedouins and boîtes, reframing the city’s past as a complex, lived space rather than a mere prelude to its skyscraper-studded present. Though her citation count (3) is modest, her impact is felt in the fields of Gulf studies, architectural history, and critical geography, where she is recognized for her lyrical, essayistic style that merges rigorous research with narrative flair. Aima’s work has been featured in prominent outlets such as *Artforum*, *The New Inquiry*, and *Frieze*, and she is a contributing editor at *Art Asia Pacific*. Her scholarship offers a vital, humanizing counterpoint to the region’s often-sterile developmental discourse, making her a compelling voice for students and researchers exploring the cultural politics of the Arabian Peninsula.