FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Akel Ismail Kahera (PhD)
- Emailakahera@hbku.edu.qa
- Office locationC.01.030
Biography
Dr. Akel Kahera is a Professor of Islamic Architecture and Urbanism at CIS, HBKU. His research, teaching, and scholarly publications include architecture, sustainable urbanism, and design. With over 20 years as a professional practitioner, he has performed a vital role as designer and project manager primarily in the international arena, which has led to the construction of several major projects with a commensurate construction value of $500 million. He is a native of Brooklyn, New York, where he attended Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture and later completed graduate studies (M. Arch) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and obtained a PhD with honors from Princeton University.
Dr. Kahera has held multiple teaching and senior positions, including professor and dean at Virgina Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Qatar; professor and senior associate dean of research and graduate studies at Clemson University, South Carolina; and professor and director at Prairie View A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas Tech University. Dr. Kahera has published over three dozen peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and three books: Deconstructing the American Mosque (University of Texas Press, 2002/2008), Reading the Islamic City: Discursive Practices & Legal Judgment (Rowan & Littlefield/ Lexington Press, Maryland; 2012), and Design Criteria for Mosques (Architectural Press, Oxford, UK; 2009).
Research Interests
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Sustainable Environments and Critical Regionalism
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Revitalization and Historic Preservation
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Typologies of Islamic Architecture
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Hermeneutics and Ontology
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Housing and Community Development
Experience
Professor of Architecture and Urbanism
CIS, HBKU
2019 – PresentDean and Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s School of the Arts
2015 – 2018Associate Dean and Professor
College of Architecture, Art and Humanities, Clemson University, South Carolina
2012 – 2015
Associate Professor and Director
School of Architecture, Prairie View/Texas A & M University
2005 – 2012
Education
Certificate: Heritage Preservation and Cultural Value
University of Oxford
2017Certificate: Global Leadership
Reed College, Portland, Oregon
2016Certificate: Race and Reconciliation
Reed College, Portland, Oregon
2016PhD (with Distinction)
Princeton University
1997
Master of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1987Bachelor of Architecture
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1977
Selected Publications
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BOOKS
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Kahera, A. (2012). Reading the Islamic City: Discursive Practices & Legal Judgment.
Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield/Lexington Press.
2012 -
Kahera, A. (2002). Deconstructing the American Mosque: Space, Gender & Aesthetics.
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. (Reissued in paperback edition, 2008).
2002 -
Kahera, A., Anz, C., & Abdulmalik, L. (2009). Design Criteria for Mosques & Islamic Centers: Art, Architecture & Worship.
Oxford, UK: The Architectural Press.
2009 -
BOOK CHAPTERS
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Kahera, A. (2016). Cairo’s Urban Parks: Space, Place and Meaning.
In Gharipour, M. (Ed.), Contemporary Urban Landscapes of the Middle East. UK: Routledge. 171–89.
2016 -
Kahera, A., & BakamaNume, B. (2015). Houston Mosques: Space, Place and Religious Meaning.
In Brunn, S. (Ed.), The Changing World Map: Sacred Spaces, Identities, Practices and Politics. UK: Springer.
2015 -
Kahera, A. (2014). The Education of African-American Architects: Re-thinking Du Bois’s Principles.
In Bell, C.J. (Ed.), Space Unveiled: Invisible Cultures in the Design Studio. UK: Routledge. 37–50.
2014 -
Kahera, A. (2013). Architecture.
In Hammer, J., & Safi, O. (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to American Islam. UK: Cambridge University Press. 228–245.
2013 -
JOURNAL ARTICLES
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Kahera, A. (2014). God’s Dominion: Omar Ibn Said Use of Arabic literacy as Opposition to Slavery.
The South Carolina Review, 46(2). 126–34.
2014 -
Kahera, A. (2016). A Fatwa on the Status of an Urban Mosque: The Rhetoric of a Legal Discourse.
Encounters: An International Journal for the Study of Culture and Society, 6. 151–68.
2016 -
Kahera, A. (2010). Art is Not Created Ex-Nihilo: Order, Space & Form in the Work of Sinan and Palladio.
Journal of History & Culture, 1(3). 57–79.
2010 -
Kahera, A. (2009). If You Fly Too Close to the Sun: Postmodernism, Pantheism and the Promethean Myth.
Journal of History & Culture, 1(2). 39–52.
2009 -
Kahera, A. (2008). (Re) Thinking Diversity: Resisting Absolute Knowledge in the Design Studio.
Journal of History & Culture, 1(1). 62–76.
2008 -
Kahera, A. (2007). Two Muslim Communities: Two Disparate Ways of Islamizing Public Spaces.
Space and Culture, 10(4). 384–396.
2007 -
Kahera, A. (1999). Reading the Semiotics of a Madinah: A Discourse on the Topography of Fas.
Al-Shajarah: Journal of International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 4(1). 75–92.
1999 -
Kahera, A., & Benmira, O. (1998). Damages in Islamic Law: Magribi Muftis and their Fatwas-9th to 15th century, CE.
Journal of Islamic Law and Society, 5(2). E.J. Brill. 131–64.
1998 -
OTHERS
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Kahera, A. (Forthcoming 2021). The Mosque of the Prophet at Medina.
In Uddin-Khan, H., & Moore, K. (Eds.), The Religious Architecture of Islam, Vol 1. Brepols Publishers.
2021 -
Kahera, A. (2014). Omar Ibn Said’s Rhetorical Discourse Against Slavery.
In McCloud, A.B. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of African American Islam. UK: Oxford University Press.
2014 -
Kahera, A. (2014). American Mosque Architecture.
In Smith, J., & Haddad, Y. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American Islam. Oxford University Press NY (2014), 404–25.
2014 -
Kahera, A. (2009). The Islamic City.
In Encyclopedia of Urbanism. UK: Sage Publications. 401–405.
2009 -
Kahera, A. (2001). The Arts: Visual and Religious Art.
In Ciment, J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of American Immigration. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. 768–776.
2001
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