He obtained his PhD in spatial planning from TU Dortmund University in Germany in 2006. Anani chaired the Academic Council of the International Academy of Art Palestine in 2010-12. He has actively collaborated in several collectives and projects, including "Decolonizing Architecture" and "Ramallah Syndrome." In addition to curating or co-curating "Urban Cafés" and "Palestinian Cities-Visual Contention," he has also co-curated the second, third, and fourth editions of Cities Exhibition. His writings on cultural and visual politics, traveling theory, contemporary art practices, transnationalism, and international cultural aid have appeared in various journals and edited volumes. He was a 2012-13 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Forum for Transregional Studies of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.