Dissertation Title: Constructing Islamic Modernity: The Politics of Sacred Space and Transnational Pilgrimage in Post-Revolutionary Iran


Alex Shams is a PhD student of Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His current research focuses on the urban politics of sacred space in the Middle East, specifically in Iran and Iraq, where he conducted fieldwork for three years. He is the editor of Ajam Media Collective (ajammc.com), an online academic platform focused on culture and society in Iran and Central Asia. He previously worked as a journalist in the Middle East.