Pamela Karimi

Pamela Karimi is a trained architect and historian of art and architecture with expertise in the modern and contemporary Middle East. She obtained her Ph.D. from MIT’s History, Theory & Criticism of Art and Architecture Program in 2009. Prior to her appointment at Cornell, Dr. Karimi taught at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Brandeis University, NYU, and Wellesley College.

Karimi’s research lies at the intersection of architecture, art, environmental studies, and socio-political dynamics. This interdisciplinary approach synthesizes insights from ecological, creative, and socio-political spheres. By exploring these intersections, Karimi’s work fosters a holistic understanding of how physical spaces, environmental factors, and societal forces interact and shape one another. Supported by a year-long fellowship at the Käte Hamburger Institute at the University of Heidelberg, her current book project, tentatively titled Survival by Design: Desert Architecture at the End of the World, investigates the evolution of architecture and environmental transformations in arid regions from the Cold War era to the present. Her award-winning monograph, Alternative Iran: Contemporary Art and Critical Spatial Practice (Stanford University Press, 2022), provides a nuanced exploration of how Iranian artists, theatre experts, curators, architects, and designers navigate spatial complexities amid restrictive state regulations. Karimi’s third monograph, supported by the Persian Heritage Foundation and published by Leuven/Cornell University Press, offers an insightful analysis of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran. This study uncovers grassroots artistic movements and their crucial role in shaping more democratic public spaces. Currently, Dr. Karimi is collaborating on Cultural History of Asian Art, a comprehensive collection of books offering fresh interpretations of Asian art and architecture over the past 2500 years.

Karimi’s work transcends Iranian borders, addressing urgent and critical socio-political and environmental issues globally. She coedited The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Napoleon to ISIS with Dr. Nasser Rabbat (MIT), tackling urgent concerns in heritage preservation. Her research also encompasses sustainability and design in North America, exemplified by her coedited volume Reinventing the American Post-Industrial City (2014) and her curation of the acclaimed traveling exhibition Black Spaces Matter (2017-2019). Funded by the UMass President’s Office Creative Economy Initiatives, this exhibition explored the intersection of race and architecture in 19th-century New Bedford, MA. These accomplishments have attracted attention from major media outlets, including WBUR, Hyperallergic, Al-Jazeera, NPR, The Washington Post, and the BBC.

In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Karimi has held several leadership positions, including the directorship of the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Community Engagement Initiatives at UMass Dartmouth. She has served as Chair of the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative and board member of the Thresholds Journal (MIT Press). Karimi’s multifaceted career exemplifies her commitment to bridging academic research with real-world issues, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and nurturing the next generation of scholars and practitioners.