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Alex Shams

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Palestine Reporting USA

Pro-Palestinian ad campaign takes over walls of US cities

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on March 20, 2015. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Commuters in cities across the United States were surprised this month to find their daily trips to

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Israel Palestine Reporting

Israeli filmmaker explores life through the eyes of Palestinian teen

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally Published by Ma’an News Agency on March 11, 2015. JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The short documentary “Khelil Helwa (Hebron is Beautiful)” follows a young boy from Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood as

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Academic Work Iran Reporting

Urban Space and the Production of Gender in Modern Iran

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on Feb. 23, 2015 and again in Women in Islam journal on Sept. 9, 2019.  What does an Islamic urban space look like? This question

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Palestine Reporting

Palestinian village imprisoned in holy shrine of Nabi Samuel

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on February 12, 2015. NABI SAMUEL (Ma’an) — The tomb of the Biblical prophet Samuel is blessed with a stunning view over Jerusalem from

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Israel Palestine Reporting

After police killings, anger simmers in Negev Bedouin villages

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on Feb. 5, 2015. BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — The killing of two Bedouin youths in southern Israel by police over the last week has shocked the

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Palestine Reporting

2 years after youth shot by soldiers, friends honor him with mural

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on January 15, 2015. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — As the second anniversary of the death of a young Palestinian boy from Bethlehem approaches, his friends

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Palestine Reporting

Group calls for Orthodox church reform over alleged Israel land sales

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on Jan. 14, 2015. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Christmas is a time for holiday cheer in Bethlehem, as thousands from across Palestine and around the world

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Palestine Reporting

In photos: Snow blankets historic Old City of Bethlehem

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on January 10, 2015. As the third day of winter Storm Huda came to a close on Friday, snow blanketed the hills of central

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Palestine Reporting

Birzeit students hold solidarity event with Black struggle in US

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on December 18, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Nearly 100 students at Birzeit University in the central West Bank on Wednesday took part in a

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Palestine Reporting

Bethlehem filled with hope as Christmas season approaches

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on December 3, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Bethlehem of today is a far cry from the little village of Jesus’ era, and the historic

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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

  • 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
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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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