The Rite of Urban Passage by Reza Masoudi

Author:Reza Masoudi [Masoudi, Reza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Islamic Studies, Sociology, Urban
ISBN: 9781785339776
Google: DuFZDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2018-08-17T05:22:18+00:00

FIGURE 4.2 The Circus with roofed pavement at the junction of two of the first streets of Dezful (the late 1950s or very early 1960s). Public domain image, obtained from Saba Photo Studio, Dezful.

The authoritarian method of demolishing houses and buildings for the sake of new streets was taken up by the municipal authorities; Eidi-Mohammad Masoudi narrated that the municipality forced shopkeepers to move their businesses from the old bazaar and use shops in the new streets. By the 1940s, the shops in the old bazaar were locked by authorities in order to force shopkeepers to move their business to the new streets (interviewed in September 2005). Similarly, Mr Gholami narrated that ‘when the street5 was built, the mayor whose name was Sharifi shut the shops in the bazaar by force and moved them [shopkeepers] to the street. It happened in around 1940-1941… it was Reza Shah’s era’ (interviewed in Dezful, February 2006).

The urban modernization under Reza Shah has been criticized by scholars because it paid too much attention to the visual aspects of cities, such as the façades of streets, and remained ignorant about fundamental aspects of urban development such as infrastructure. Moreover, as the fieldwork interviews have also shown, the changes were imposed on an unwilling society. Interviewees extensively narrated people’s total resistance to the changes. They explained that people were neither ready for nor keen on the changes that were imposed. Authoritarianism was not only behind the spatial transformation and re-arrangement of shops and urban land use; interviewees noted the force used to install public medical services, upgrade toilet sanitation, close the traditional schools and establish modern schools. For example, Mr Shiravi (interviewed in February 2006) explained that although some free medical services, like vaccinations, were given door to door, people tried to avoid using the services by hiding their children. Consequently, the authorities forced people to vaccinate their children. In the case of education, he explained that the police closed the traditional school which he was attending. His father was told to register him in the new school that provided free education. However, he only did so after being officially warned several times by the authorities. The unwillingness of society to accept the imposed reforms was demonstrated when Reza Shah was removed from power by the Allies during the Second World War. For example, Mr Gholami (interviewed in February 2006) explained that when the arbitrary state was removed, shopkeepers, including his father, went back to the old bazaar and reopened the previously closed shops.

Generally, there was an interesting paradox in the narrative of those interviewees who experienced the Reza Shah era. While they often recalled and expressed their anxiety due to the brutal manner of the modern state that imposed reforms, at the same time they described the social resistance to changes as a sign of cultural backwardness. Their lived experience recalls a painful transition that runs counter to their current judgements about Reza Shah’s reforms.

While urban modernization was initially dominated by the building of new

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