No, Iran Didn't Just Ban Women From Universities.
I awoke yesterday morning to a barrage of excited, fearful, and shocked emails and messages demanding to understand why Iran had suddenly decided to ban women from entering university. Given…
Posts by author
Alex Shams
47 posts
Misreading Feminism And Women’s Rights in Tehran: Beyond Chadors, Ninjabis, And Secular Fantasies
It is nearly impossible to read any article about Iranian women and not spend the entire time rolling your eyes. Historically, the Western media has tended to make liberal use…
A “Persian” Iran?: Challenging the Aryan Myth and Persian Ethnocentrism
Iran is a multi-ethnic country that is home to a diversity of languages, ethnic groups, and religions. So why do people think its a “Persian” country? The roots of this misconception lie in an ideology called Aryanism promoted by the Pahlavi Dynasty to homogenize the country.
Politics of the Iranian Box Office: Mocking the Morality Police and Green Movement Conspiracies
Over the last few decades, Iranian cinema has burst onto the global stage, earning worldwide acclaim and, most recently, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. No major film festival is…
A Nowruz Uprising: Ringing in the Persian New Year with a Spirit of Resistance
The Persian New Year 1391 is upon us and it seems that yet again that we will celebrate amidst a climate of global fear and relentless persecution. In Turkey, the…
Welcome to Qom: City of Samosas and Mullah Factories
The first glimpses of Qom are always a let-down. The approach begins about an hour into the journey south on the Tehran-Qom road, when, after a long stretch of craggy…
From Tehran to Homs: Musical Solidarity & Revolutionary Culture in a Time of Siege
The Syrian Revolution is approaching it’s first anniversary and the situation is looking bloodier by the day. In a not entirely unexpected move, Iran recently sent two ships through the…
The Shahs of Sunset… and the Rest of Us: "Persian Money" in an Era of FBI Surveillance
After years of rumors and talk of a Persian version of the Jersey Shore, the nightmare is becoming reality this March when “the Shahs of Sunset” premiers on Bravo. The…
Salam, Latinoamerica! Iran's First Spanish Language Satellite Channel Launched
Iranian television has reached Latin America, and after years of waiting to be able to travel between Caracas and Buenos Aires and still have access to our favorite Iranian soaps,…
Central Asian Pop Music and the Eternal Question: "You’re not going to get married?!”
Tajikistan may be an integral part of the Persian-speaking community, but very often it seems as if culture and information tend to flow from Iran (or the Iranian diaspora) into…