Keshavarzian 205Places in Shadows, Networks in Transformation:
An Analysis of the Tehran Bazaar’s Publicness
Arang Keshavarzian
The Tehran bazaar is “that which is in the shadow [sāyeh] of the Shams
al-‘Amareh.”^1 This was the response a bazaari gave when I asked him to
describe the commercial entrepôt in which he had worked for several
decades.^2 He was referring to how Tehran’s central marketplace is situ-
ated directly adjacent to the Golestan Palace compound, which includes
the ornate clock tower named the Shams al-‘Amareh, or “Sun of the
Architecture.” It is not particularly surprising that the central marketplace
in Tehran, like many others in Iran and the wider Middle East and North
Africa, is intimately associated with a distinct physical place, or “locale.”^3
In many cities in the region, although not all, bazaars or aswaq (s. suq) are
clearly demarcated by conspicuous edifices and morphologies that physi-
cally set these commercial environs apart from the rest of the city.^4
ut this rather poetic metaphor, which was repeated by other older B
merchants, also suggests that the Tehran bazaar is not simply an empty
point or a two-dimensional space on the map, but a place, one which
implies a series of social and relational dimensions that in turn produces
a collective identity. The mere fact that merchants and shopkeepers are
identified and self-identify as “people of the bazaar” [bazaaris or ahl-e
bazaar] reflects the sense of place shared to some degree by people with
heterogeneous social standings, religions, economic power, and sectoral
affiliations. Historically, the multifunctional bazaar nurtured complex and
long-term social, kinship, credit, and casual relationships engendering