Anwar Jaber, PhD

Dr. Anwar Jaber is an architect and assistant professor at the Waterloo School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering. Her interdisciplinary research explores the meaning and change of architecture and urbanism, focusing on the socio-politics of cities that experience political conflicts, settler colonialism, and inequity. She is also interested in critical theory, indigenous studies and migration in Canada and beyond, and feminism in the global south, especially in the Middle East and Arab countries. Born and raised in East Jerusalem, Dr. Jaber holds an MPhil and a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Cambridge in England.

Dr Jaber brings international experience from the Middle East and Europe. In addition to practicing as an urban planner for marginalized Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, her research on emerging national-political institutions in Palestine attracted funding from various bodies such as Said Foundation, Cambridge Trust at the University of Cambridge, the AMTD Foundation, and the Palestinian-American Research Center. At Waterloo School of Architecture, she is a member of REEJ – Racial Equity and Environmental Justice Committee and co-founded the Spatial Equity Reading Group.

• Socio-politics of architecture and urbanism
• The interplay between politics, nationalism, and architecture
• Urban conflicts, memory, and war
• Equity, Justice, and urbanism in the global south, especially Palestine and Israel
• Islamic architecture
• Indigenous spaces, feminism, and spaces of refuge and migration.

• 2020, Doctorate Architecture, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 2014, Master of Philosophy Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 2013, Bachelor of Engineering in Architectural Engineering with a concentration in Urban Planning, Birzeit University, Palestine

• 2021-2023 AMTD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of Waterloo, Canada
• 2021 Palestinian American Research Center Fellowship, USA
• 2015-2020 Cambridge Trust Doctoral Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2013-2014 Said Foundation Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK

• 2022-present Racial Equity and Environmental Justice, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo

• Jaber, A. (forthcoming in 2024). Hiding Behind Colonial Roots: Investigating the Reconstruction of the Palestinian Presidential Headquarters (the Muqata’a) in Ramallah. In R. Abu Ghannam, E. Desrochers-Turgeon, P. Swaranjali, & F. Goffi (Eds.), Architectures of Hiding Crafting Concealment | Omission | Deception | Erasure | Silence. Routledge.
• Jaber, A. (2018). Creating Margins at the Centre: Israeli Bypass Roads in the Palestinian Beit Hanina Neighbourhood, East Jerusalem. Accord Insight 4: Borderlands and Peacebuilding: A view from the Margins. Conciliation Resources. Issue 4, pp. (12-13).
• Jaber, A. & Avdolous, E. (2017). Duplicity: Editorial Preface. SCROOPE: Cambridge Architecture Journal. University of Cambridge, Issue 25, pp. (5-8).
• Jaber, A. Butmeh, W & Hamada, M. (2014). Towards a Better Ecotourism: Deir Qidees Ecolodge in Palestine. This Week in Palestine. Issue 192. pp. (45-48).

• Episode 140— Conflict Architecture, Truth & Reconciliation, interview with Anwar Jaber, Beyond the Bulletin Podcast University of Waterloo
• Ahmad, H. (2020). The Reification of Ramallah: Undermining a Palestinian Capital in Jerusalem. Al-Shabaka. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://al-shabaka.org/memos/the-reification-of-ramallah-undermining-a-palestinian-capital-in-jerusalem/
• Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Waterloo
• University of Waterloo Welcomes Three Postdoctoral Scholars