• 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:

Obama

Reporting USA

“Obama Built the Structures for Trump”: A Terrifying Legacy of Mass Deportation

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Truthout on October 16, 2016. Jose Juan Moreno sits in the room at the University Church on Chicago’s Southside where he has sought sanctuary from Immigration and

  • Share
Opinion

Obama Defied GOP to Make Peace with Iran — Now It’s Time for Palestine

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published in Huffington Post. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vindictive policies are creating a climate in which Palestinians are once again rising up to reject their lack of freedom

  • 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
  • ‘We Have to Know When to Hope and When to Be Hopeless’: How six Iranians feel about the Woman Life Freedom movement, one year later
    ‘We Have to Know When to Hope and When to Be Hopeless’: How six Iranians feel about the Woman Life Freedom movement, one year later
  • 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
  • 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
  • Inside Mexico's deep and unexpected legacy of Iranians
    Inside Mexico's deep and unexpected legacy of Iranians
  • Killing of Mentally Ill Palestinian Swimming Off Gaza Coast Highlights Maddening Effects of Israel’s Siege
    Killing of Mentally Ill Palestinian Swimming Off Gaza Coast Highlights Maddening Effects of Israel’s Siege
  • A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran
    A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran
  • Designing the 'Ceremonial Uniform' for the Palestinian Authority: An Interview with Omar Joseph Nasser-Khoury
    Designing the 'Ceremonial Uniform' for the Palestinian Authority: An Interview with Omar Joseph Nasser-Khoury

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