Rana Khalid AlMutawa

Rana completed her doctoral training at the University of Oxford in 2021. Her thesis, which she is currently working on as a book project, is an urban ethnography of middle-class citizens and long-term residents in Dubai. It explores discourses of authenticity that circulate about “spectacular” cities such as Dubai and the forms of belonging and agency that take place in these settings. In particular, she is interested in interrogating the way narratives of certain geographies’ “(in)authenticity” and “superficiality” are often linked to performances of social distinction; in the forms of belonging taking place in “spectacular” spaces that are often dismissed as alienating; and in the intersectional forms of exclusion happening in these settings.

Prior to being at Oxford, Rana worked as an instructor and researcher at Zayed University in Dubai for three years. As an Emirati woman, she was interested in and wrote about questions on state feminism, national identity and ethnic diversity among Emiratis. She has published her work in Arab Studies Journal (2020); Hawwa (2020); Urban Anthropology (2019); New Middle Eastern Studies (2016) as well as in other public platforms such as the LSE Middle East Studies Blog where she wrote about navigating multiple lived experiences in the Gulf; social distinction, and perceptions of authenticity.

Education:

• 2021 DPhil in Oriental Studies (Middle Eastern Studies), University of Oxford Recipient of the fully funded Oxford-Mohammed bin Rashid Graduate Scholarship
• 2014 Master’s in International Affairs (Social Policy), Columbia University
• 2013 Master’s in Public Policy, University of Tokyo
• 2010 BA, American University in Dubai

Research Areas: UAE; GCC; Belonging; Urbanity; Community; Social Distinction

Courses Taught

• SRPP-UH 2801X Community- Engaged Scholarship: Addressing Social Hierarchies in the UAE