In this multimedia project produced for the Center of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, freelance photojournalist Kael Alford’s “unembedded” photography provides an example of “contextualized” reporting on a Muslim community in the global spotlight. Alford portrays Najaf, Iraq beyond the US cordon and Mahdi Army lines during the siege of August, 2004.
This project grew out of the center’s Fall 2008 conference “Understanding Islam in Context.” Alford is a 2009 Nieman Fellow.