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Alex Shams

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Alex Shams

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Reporting

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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About me

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

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Recent posts

  • “Why Did So Many People Think This War Was a Good Idea?”
  • CBS Interview: How people in Iran feel about ceasefire with U.S., upcoming peace talks
  • Looking A Tyrant In the Eye: Iran’s Long Struggle for Freedom and Justice
  • Iran After Khamenei
  • Iran’s Protesters Are Caught Between State Repression and Foreign Intervention
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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.

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