Kirman and the Qajar Empire Local Dimensions of Modernity in Iran, 1794-1914 Iranian Studies Series

Despite its apparently peripheral location in the Qajar Empire, Kirman was frequently found at the centre of developments reshaping Iran in the 19th century. Over the Qajar period the region saw significant changes, as competition between Kirmani families rapidly developed commercial cotton and opium production and a world renowned carpet weaving industry, as well as giving strength to radical modernist and nationalist agitation in the years leading up to the 1906 Constitutional Revolution.

Kirman and the Qajar Empire explores how these Kirmani local elites mediated political, economic, and social change in their community during the significant transitional period in Iran?s history, from the rise of the Qajar Empire through to World War I. It departs from the prevailing centre-periphery models of economic integration and Qajar provincial history, engaging with key questions over how Iranians participated in reshaping their communities in the context of imperialism and growing transnational connections. With rarely utilized local historical and geographical writings, as well as a range of narrative and archival sources, this book provides new insight into the impact of household factionalism and estate building over four generations in the Kirman region. As well as offering the first academic monograph on modern Kirman, it is also an important case study in local dimensions of modernity.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Iranian studies and Iranian History, as well as general Middle Eastern studies.

Introduction: The Politics of Households in Qajar KirmanPart One: Kirman and the Politics of Empire Chapter I: Kirman and the Qajar Empire Chapter II: Local Historiography and the Politics of the Great GamePart Two: A Regional Political Economy Chapter III: Household Networks and Rural Integration Chapter IV: From Cotton to Carpets: Consolidating a Regional Economy Part Three: Patrimonialism and Social Change Chapter V: Contesting Urban Patrimonialism Chapter VI: The Household Politics of RevolutionConclusion: Mediating Modernity in Kirman

James M Gustafson is Assistant Professor of History at Indiana State University, specializing in the social and economic history of the modern Middle East and Central Asia.