Alex Shams has a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago. His research focuses on religion, politics, and urban history in the Middle East and he has conducted ethnographic and archival fieldwork in the region.

Shams is also a freelance writer on a variety of topics linked to the Middle East and diasporic communities around the world. His writings have been published in New York Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Middle East Eye, Slate, and CNN, and have been translated into French, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, and other languages.

For more than 10 years he has served as an editor of Ajam Media Collective (ajammc.com), an online journal dedicated to culture and society in Iran, Central Asia, and the Middle East. He has organized events including a workshop on cultural connections between Iran and South Asia at the 2020 Lahore Biennale.

Shams previously worked as a journalist based in Bethlehem in the West Bank. He was an editor and writer focusing on local and regional politics at Ma’an News Agency, the largest independent Palestinian news network, and he subsequently worked as a freelance journalist covering topics related to culture and society.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Shams is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he studied International Relations and Urban Development. He subsequently received his master’s from Harvard University in Middle Eastern Studies.

Shams has been interviewed in numerous media outlets on topics related to Iran, the Middle East, and US foreign policy. He has also given numerous talks at universities, high schools, and independent organizations.

Shams is fluent in English, Spanish, Persian, and Arabic and has a working knowledge of Turkish and French. He has worked professionally as a translator and interpreter in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish.