Alex Shams

Opinion

Bulgarian Habibi: How Orientalist Stereotypes in Chalga Music Recover Memories of the Balkans’ Ottoman Past

January 10, 2019 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Balkanist on January 10, 2019. The tension inherent to chalga and turbofolk music – is it local or foreign? – hints at the deeper paradox beneath contemporary

Featured India Iraq Israel Palestine Reporting

Amba: The Iraqi Mango Pickle from India That Tops Palestinian Shawarma

October 22, 2018 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on October 22, 2018. Step into any Palestinian shawarma shop and the choice of toppings traverse a mouth-watering array of options: thick tahini-and-parsley bakdoonsiyyeh, crushed shatta peppers

Featured Iran USA

Becoming Iranian-American

March 28, 2018 by Alex Shams

I took Yara Elmjouie on a tour of Tehrangeles’ less well-known spots for an AJ+ documentary about Iranian-Americans entitled “Becoming Iranian-American“. There’s the Garment District downtown, It’s All Good House

India Iran Reporting

How Nowruz is Celebrated Around the World

March 21, 2018 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on March 21, 2018. Nowruz is an ancient festival marking the arrival of Spring that is celebrated in parts of the Middle East, Central

El Salvador Reporting USA

Reconstructing the Village of the Divino Salvador

October 31, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Los Angeles Review of Books on October 31, 2017. EVERY AUGUST, Salvadorans around the world celebrate the Festival of El Salvador del Mundo, the patron saint and

Iran Iraq Opinion USA

The Weaponization of Nostalgia: How Afghan Miniskirts Became the Latest Salvo in the War on Terror

September 6, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by “Ajam Media Collective” The debate over Afghan women’s miniskirts have become the latest salvo in the War on Terror. Last month, Donald Trump announced that the US

Iran Reporting USA

Sedentary Fragmentation: Toward a Genealogy of Chicago’s Iranian Art Scene

August 22, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective. In 1951, a young Iranian man named Hannibal Alkhas moved from Tehran to Chicago, where he spent the next decade studying at the Art

Iraq Palestine Reporting

The Iraqi soldiers who sacrificed everything to defend Palestine in 1948

May 15, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on May 15, 2017. The main road north from the West Bank city of Nablus winds between rolling hills covered in olive groves, abandoned

Iraq Reporting

The Joys of Akitu, the Assyrian New Year

April 5, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on April 5, 2017. Assyrians around the world marked the festival of Akitu this week, a spring holiday that commemorates the beginning of the

Opinion USA

Trump’s ‘honour crimes’ order is a racist distraction

March 11, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Aljazeera on March 11, 2017. The key to protecting American women is defeating American sexism and racism, not scapegoating migrants or Muslims. Trump’s proposal to track ‘honour