• 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

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
Palestine Reporting

In photos: Bethlehem festival draws thousands to Old City

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on June 19, 2014. The Bet Lahem Live festival kicked off on Thursday night along Bethlehem’s historic Star Street, launching four days of music,

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Bet Lahem Live festival brings Star Street back to life

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on June 18, 2014. Star Street was once the bustling heart of Bethlehem’s Old City, a vital link on the 1,500-year-old pilgrimage route from Jerusalem to

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Palestinians cynical as Israel mobilizes #BringBackOurBoys campaign

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on June 15, 2014. As Israeli forces deployed across the West Bank in hot pursuit of three teenagers who went missing on Thursday, the

  • Share
Palestine Reporting

Bethlehem walls transformed in the presence of the Holy See

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on May 24, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — In advance of Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land on Sunday, Bethlehem residents and officials have been

  • Share
Israel Palestine Reporting

Anti-enlistment performance art turns Israeli cities into battlefields

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on May 23, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — On Sunday, Israeli soldiers invaded the streets of Haifa’s upmarket German Colony neighborhood, beating Palestinian protesters with

  • Share
Israel Palestine Reporting

Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem’s al-Malha

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on May 16, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Towering above the gargantuan Jerusalem Mall and the repetitive, non-descript homes of the Malha (or Manahat) suburb

  • Share
Reporting

Palestinian Christians ask Maronite patriarch to reconsider Jerusalem visit

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency. on May 10, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A prominent Palestinian Christian activist group has urged the Lebanese patriarch to reconsider an upcoming trip to

  • Share
previous 1 … 13 14 15 16 17 … 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

  • Workshop: Investigating Power
  • The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood
  • A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran
  • ‘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
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

  • Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
    Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
  • 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
  • The Arab heart of Mexico City
    The Arab heart of Mexico City
  • Sofreh aqd : à la découverte du mariage iranien
    Sofreh aqd : à la découverte du mariage iranien
  • Zionist tour for Muslim-Americans sparks anger in Palestine
    Zionist tour for Muslim-Americans sparks anger in Palestine
  • Urban Space and the Production of Gender in Modern Iran
    Urban Space and the Production of Gender in Modern Iran
  • The Joys of Akitu, the Assyrian New Year
    The Joys of Akitu, the Assyrian New Year

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