• 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:
Tag:

Language Preservation

Iraq Reporting USA

Chicago’s Assyrians embrace new technology to save ancient language

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Alex Shams

Assyrians based in Chicago are united in keeping Syriac alive in the US while hoping to spark a revolution in language learning

  • Share

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

  • Interview: Ilan Pappe on academic freedom in Israel and BDS
    Interview: Ilan Pappe on academic freedom in Israel and BDS
  • The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood
    The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood
  • Neither Taharrush Gamea Nor Sexism Are Arab ‘Cultural Practices’
    Neither Taharrush Gamea Nor Sexism Are Arab ‘Cultural Practices’
  • Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
    Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
  • When Persian was an Indian Language: The Fables of Jameh ul-Tamseel from Medieval Hyderabad to Modern Iran
    When Persian was an Indian Language: The Fables of Jameh ul-Tamseel from Medieval Hyderabad to Modern Iran
  • Workshop: Investigating Power
    Workshop: Investigating Power
  • The Arab heart of Mexico City
    The Arab heart of Mexico City
  • The Weaponization of Nostalgia: How Afghan Miniskirts Became the Latest Salvo in the War on Terror
    The Weaponization of Nostalgia: How Afghan Miniskirts Became the Latest Salvo in the War on Terror
  • Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem's al-Malha
    Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem's al-Malha
  • On Persian pilgrimages, Pakistanis and Indians reconnect with Iran
    On Persian pilgrimages, Pakistanis and Indians reconnect with Iran

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