Marwa Koheji
Humanities Research Fellow
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BA, University of Bahrain; MA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Areas: science and technology studies, infrastructure, energy studies, environmental studies, cultural anthropology, Arabian Peninsula
About Marwa
Marwa Koheji's research investigates the proliferation of air-conditioning in Bahrain and the wider Gulf and the socio-material transformations it has engendered. Bridging archival and ethnographic research, her project began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she defended her doctoral dissertation in March 2022.
As a fellow at NYUAD, she will expand her research by examining thermal comfort and energy futurity through a focus on Abu Dhabi's solar infrastructure. In particular, she will ethnographically investigate the retrofitting of Abu Dhabi's electrical grid to accommodate solar technologies and the implications of such retrofitting for envisioning a future of cooling beyond oil. Marwa will also examine how the ascendency of air-conditioning intersects with the emergence of an oil industry in the Gulf.
Publications
Koheji, Marwa. "Fossil Fueled Comfort—The History and Cost of Air Conditioning in Bahrain." Middle East Report 311 (Summer 2024).
Koheji, Marwa. Marwa Koheji, l’anthropologue qui prend la température du Golfe [Interview]. La Libre Belgique. July 31, 2023.
Koheji, Marwa. "Architects in the Gulf are Imagining Life After Air-conditioning." New Lines Magazine, June 8, 2023.
Koheji, Marwa. "Thermal Comfort and (Im)possible Futures: The Story of Air-conditioning in Bahrain." In Sweating Assets: On Climate Conditioning and Ecology. Manama: Bahrain's Authority for Culture and Antiquities, 2023.
