The Cultural Transformation of the Bazaar of Isfahan from the Advent of Photography until the Islamic Revolution

The dissertation seeks to unravel the transformation of the bazaar of Isfahan through its changing perception from the West and Persia/Iran, fueled by the introduction of photography in Persia. The advent of photography in Persia presented a shift in the way the space of the bazaar was perceived by the West as well as by the Persians themselves. This perception, or rather projection of the bazaar, undergoes transformations over time. Parallel to these fluid transformations, the physical space of the bazaar also changes accordingly. While in the beginning, photography functions as a documenting tool attaining a scientific status, over time, the art of image making and its dissemination becomes entangled with politics, ultimately, albeit gradually, affecting the built environment of the bazaar. The thesis seeks to shed light on these processes by taking apart the various agents and factors that have contributed to the said transformations. In doing so, each chapter focuses on a set of photographs that symbolize and capture this transformation in a given era. The photographs are then put into context and linked to a history that brings together seemingly desolate protagonists into a common narrative. In chronological order, these photographs anchor the narrative that unfolds the thesis. Organized in three main chapters, each chapter ends with conceptually framing the bazaar as a physical site; the three frames work like snapshots that represent the three phases of the bazaar’s transformation in their respective eras. By tracing the transformation, the dissertation attempts to answer the following questions among others: Why were certain parts of the bazaar renovated while others were left in ruins? How did the Persians and the Europeans perceive the bazaar? How did the representation and perception of the bazaar affect its physical space?