• About me
  • Reporting
  • Opinion
  • Academic Work
  • Contact me

Alex Shams

  • About me
  • Reporting
  • Opinion
  • Academic Work
  • Contact me
Search for:

Alex Shams

  • About me
  • Reporting
  • Opinion
  • Academic Work
  • Contact me
Search for:
Palestine Reporting

Thousands march in Bethlehem to mark Independence Day

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on November 15, 2014. Thousands marched in the streets of Bethlehem on Saturday to mark Palestinian Independence Day and the 10th anniversary of Palestinian

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Nablus conference imagines life in ‘glocal’ Palestine

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on October 5, 2014. The Palestinian experience of mobility has long been defined by seemingly irreconcilable contradictions.A global community of millions is increasingly well-connected

  • Share
Iran Israel Opinion Palestine

The Politics of Boycotting Israel while Fighting Sanctions on Iran

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Jadaliyya on October 3, 2014. By: Alex Shams and Ali Abdi As the bombs rained down on Gaza this summer, we were reminded yet again of the

  • Share
Academic Work Palestine Reporting

Palestinian Shared Worlds of Meaning, between George and Reuben

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on September 29, 2014. Ajam Media Collective recently worked with THE STATE, a Dubai-based publishing practice, to make a ‘zine. We provided the words and

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Has Oslo made West Bank boycott of Israel impossible?

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on September 6, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Since the beginning of the Israeli assault on Gaza, a flurry of popular campaigns have emerged across

  • Share
Iran Opinion

Sectarian War or Political Mistake?

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally Published in Andisheh-ye Pouya, Tir 1393.

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Amid destruction, ordinary Gazans open homes, churches to displaced

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on August 13, 2014. The first day the bombs began to fall on Gaza, Refqa al-Hamallawy called a meeting in her office at the

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Israeli discourse of sexualized violence rises amid Gaza assault

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on Aug. 6, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — As the bombs have been falling on Gaza over the past four weeks, another war has been ongoing

  • Share
Israel Opinion Palestine

Israel and the Palestinian Territories Lonely Planet: Systematic Erasure and Casual Racism

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Jadaliyya. Haifa is a picturesque city of hills, gardens, and trendy cafes perched along the slopes of Mount Carmel in northern Israel. If the Lonely Planetguidebook is

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Israeli forces spray Bethlehem homes with putrid-smelling water

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on June 27, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Rubhiya Abd al-Rahman Darwish was taking a nap on the couch of her family home on Sunday when

  • Share
previous 1 … 12 13 14 15 16 … 22 next

About me

Alex Shams is an Iranian-American writer and a PhD student of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

follow me on

Recent posts

  • ‘They Hit Everyone and Anyone’: From Lebanon, residents share what life has been like since Israel launched its attack.
  • Iran Braces for Uncertainty After President Raisi’s Death
  • Universities should defend students’ right to free speech, not aid their repression
  • They Risked Their Lives for Freedom in Iran. Now They Fear Israel’s Bombs.
  • How Jesus’s Hometown Is Coping With War at Christmas
Search for:

About

Born and raised in an Iranian-American family in Los Angeles, Alex Shams has long been fascinated by the stories that places can tell us. Growing up, he learned Persian and Spanish; in college, he learned Arabic and studied abroad at the American University of Cairo before moving to Beirut after graduation. After receiving his master’s in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, he moved to Bethlehem, Palestine, where he was a journalist at Ma’an News Agency, the largest independent Palestinian news organization. He received his PhD. from the University of Chicago in Sociocultural Anthropology. His dissertation, entitled “Constructing Islamic Modernity: Power, Religion, and Masculinity in Post-Revolutionary Iran,” was based on three years of ethnographic research in Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan as well as archival research in the British Library and Ba’ath Party Archives.

follow

Popular posts

  • Inside Mexico's deep and unexpected legacy of Iranians
    Inside Mexico's deep and unexpected legacy of Iranians
  • Interview: Nadia Abu El-Haj on archaeology and the Zionist project
    Interview: Nadia Abu El-Haj on archaeology and the Zionist project
  • Sofreh aqd: An inside look at Iranian weddings
    Sofreh aqd: An inside look at Iranian weddings
  • ‘We Have to Know When to Hope and When to Be Hopeless’: How six Iranians feel about the Woman Life Freedom movement, one year later
    ‘We Have to Know When to Hope and When to Be Hopeless’: How six Iranians feel about the Woman Life Freedom movement, one year later
  • Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
    Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
  • Palestinian Christians ask Maronite patriarch to reconsider Jerusalem visit
    Palestinian Christians ask Maronite patriarch to reconsider Jerusalem visit
  • Sedentary Fragmentation: Toward a Genealogy of Chicago’s Iranian Art Scene
    Sedentary Fragmentation: Toward a Genealogy of Chicago’s Iranian Art Scene
  • Interview: Ilan Pappe on academic freedom in Israel and BDS
    Interview: Ilan Pappe on academic freedom in Israel and BDS
  • Yara Shahidi, the Iranian-American Star of 'Black-ish,' Is Breaking Stereotypes On & Off Screen
    Yara Shahidi, the Iranian-American Star of 'Black-ish,' Is Breaking Stereotypes On & Off Screen
  • Arab Film on Israeli Television: An Interview with Eyal Sagui Bizawe
    Arab Film on Israeli Television: An Interview with Eyal Sagui Bizawe

Archive

Categories

  • Academic Work
  • Arab World
  • El Salvador
  • Featured
  • India
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Israel
  • Lebanon
  • Mexico
  • Oman
  • Opinion
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
  • Reporting
  • USA
Back to top
Copyright © 2009–2022 Alex Shams