خاماچی، بهروز. بازار تبریز در گذر زمان بررسی اوضاع تاریخی، اقتصادی، سیاسی. تبریز: نشر آشینا، ١٣٧۵، ۴٨٠ص
Khamachi, Bihruz. Bazar-i Tabriz dar Gozar-i Zaman Barrissi-i Awza‘-i Tarikhi, Iqtisadi, Siasi. Tabriz: Nashr-i Ashina, 1997, 480pp.
ABSTRACT
The Bazaar of Tabriz throughout the Years: A Study of its Historical, Economic and Political Situation
بازار تبریز در گذر زمان بررسی اوضاع تاریخی، اقتصادی، سیاسی
The main aim of this book is to introduce the Tabriz Bazaar as an economic, political, and even cultural institution. Besides showing the importance of trade among the people of Tabriz, the book aims to demonstrate the significance of the “Chamber of commerce in Tabriz.” To these ends, the author has filled the book with nearly seventy pages of documents that address the lengthy and important history of this “institution.”
The first sections of the book are mostly devoted to an investigation of the physical changes and structures of the Tabriz Bazaar, discussing the characteristics of the small shops, mini-bazaars, small open spaces, passages, mosques, and schools found within this space. By citing evidence from primary sources and travelogues, Bihruz Khamachi attempts to trace the changes in the uses of space and other fluctuations in the Tabriz Bazaar due to natural disasters and to diplomatic negotiations with neighbouring countries.
The last section of the book addresses the role of the Bazaar in Iran’s politics and revolutions specifically within the framework of the last 150 years. Unlike the first parts of the book, which move chronologically back and forth, in this section important political events are clearly followed from the Régie incident and the Tobacco protests to the time following the 1979 Revolution. Thus the book attempts to show how closing the Bazaar functioned as a mechanism to put pressure on the ruling system.
The book is not free from exaggeration and “city worship.” For example, it considers Western supermarkets to have been modeled after mini-bazaars in Tabriz, albeit depicting the supermarkets as more developed. The work is also limited and weak in the references it provides. In many instances, it asserts the important and determining role of the Bazaar in political changes without providing an exact explanation of how this was the case.
This book is mostly a historical narrative about commerce confronting politics in the space and institution of the Bazaar. As such, the book may find an audience in diverse researchers with interests ranging from history to architecture.
Iradj Esmailpour Ghouchani
Translated by Niki Akhavan
