1. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
  2. Research
  3. Overview of Main Research Programme
  4. Cities as Laboratories of Change
  5. Tabriz between Political Violence, Imperial Violence and Socio-political Struggles (1900-1920)

Cities as Laboratories of Change

The core of my project  investigate collective violence as well as social and political struggles in different neighborhoods of Tabriz between 1905 and 1920. Tabriz, Iran's second biggest city, proved pivotal, as it became the epicentre of an articulated movement of resistance against anti-constitutionalists and, eventually, against the Russian imperial involvement in the country, the weakening of the regime having been followed by a Russian incursion directed at constitutionalists. I am addressing the question of how concepts of interaction of urbanity and new spatiality in the city can be understood as a medium for introducing creativity, new ideas and practices, and expectations while reforming political power through violent and non- violent movements. Different forms of violence and contentious politics represent other dimensions of interrelation of space and its actors.