Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the Modern Era

This book explores the transformation of home culture and domestic architecture in twentieth century Iran. While highlighting the role of architects and urban planners since the turn of the century, the book also studies the interplay between foreign influences, gender roles, consumer culture, and women’s education as they intersect with taste, fashion, and interior design. Karimi presents a new perspective on the 1979 Iranian revolution as she rereads it vis-a-vis the opinions of Shiite religious scholars, the Left, and the revolutionary elites on the subject of people’s private lives. Finally, this study shows how, since the 1980s, Iranians have contested the public/private dichotomy as manifested in the Islamic Republic’s texts, images, and actual physical spaces.