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12. Monde iranien, période contemporaine
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Ashkan Rezvani Naraghi. A Social History of Modern Tehran. Space, Power, and the City

Laetitia Nanquette
Bibliographical reference

Ashkan Rezvani Naraghi. A Social History of Modern Tehran. Space, Power, and the City. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

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1The book studies the changes of the city of Tehran between the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, arguing that this moment showed the advent of a new spatial discourse. The author delves into the processes that took place in those years: a process of secularisation of spatiality, with squares and streets taking the place of mosques as political spaces; a gender diversification, with women being visible in this new spatiality, interestingly more because of students movement than through political parties; and the fact that the identity of spaces becomes more class-based, whereas it was previously based on other factors: religion, profession, city of origin for example. Contrasting poles of the North and South of Tehran, which are familiar to us today, are for example based on this separation between classes, which crystallises during the 20th century.

2The author strongly argues that the city is not only transformed by the state, but also by ordinary citizens. There is an interconnected relationship between the state, citizens and the city, which at the core of his study and each of his chapters. This new spatiality which is dominant after the mid-20th century is hybrid, but mostly western and particularly European-based, both in its discourse and its implementation. On this topic, it might have been useful to discuss the question of the industrialisation of Tehran, which is left outside of the interesting discussion on modernisation.

3This book based on archival material is an engaging read, that touches upon many themes that will be interesting to a variety of disciplines, not only urban studies, but also political sciences, with a great chapter on the spatial occupation of political parties, history, and cultural studies.

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References

Electronic reference

Laetitia Nanquette, Ashkan Rezvani Naraghi. A Social History of Modern Tehran. Space, Power, and the CityAbstracta Iranica [Online], Volume 45 | 2023, document 1, Online since 30 November 2023, connection on 14 June 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/56515; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.56515

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The text only may be used under licence CC BY-SA 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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