By Lian Benasuly
Scholars can learn new and unexpected information about the history of modern cities by analyzing a medium rarely looked at—family archives.
And that’s exactly what one professor from the University of Michigan has done for the past three decades. Kathryn Babayan, a professor of Middle East history, has flown to Iran and back to the U.S. several times since 1993 to collect anthologies from the ancient city of Isfahan, in order to learn how citizens and visitors experienced the reorientation of the city center in the early 17th century. She collected more than 300 anthologies.
“In the early 17th century there was a complete reorientation of the city center,” Babayan said in a recent UC Santa Barbara lecture “Anthologizing the City of Isfahan: Family Archives and Urban Knowledge.” The event was co-hosted by UCSB professor Adam Sabra, the King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies, and by UCSB’s Center for Middle East Studies.
“Thirty thousand Armenians were forced to migrate here. Three thousand Tabrizi merchants also moved here. Jews, Muslims and Christians all lived in the city,” Babayan said.
All different walks of life lived in the city at the same time, which sparked Babayan’s fascination with Isfahan during the 17th century, she said.
Kathryn Babayan, a University of Michigan Middle East history scholar, spoke to a UC Santa Barbara audience earlier this month about her new book, “The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan.”
Isfahan has limited state and city archives, so Babayan decided to collect and analyze family archives that reveal insights into past generations. She found the archives in different institutions, such as the University of Tehran. They represent a rich variety of residents —from a king to a widow, from a painter to a religious scholar —and reveal the professional and personal lives of Isfahan’s residents during a transformative period.
Babayan believes this medium can provide historians today with a new, more intimate perspective on life in Isfahan in the 17th century. “These anthologies serve as new vehicles and models for communication that challenge the historiography of Isfahan itself,” Babayan said.
In 2021, Babayan published her third book, “The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan,” and she had only lectured about it once in-person before coming to UCSB earlier this month. During her one-hour talk, Babayan went through several anthologies that she collected, both textual and visual,
As the book’s title hints, Babayan uncovered stories of the intimate lives of Isfahan’s residents. The friendships and social relations written about in family archives expose similarities and differences between the western world and 17th century Isfahan in terms of sexuality, she said.
Despite the stigmatization of same-sex relations at the time, several anthologies that Babayan collected revealed that these sexual desires were an important, yet unspoken, part of Isfahan’s urbanity.
The anthologies came in many different forms—some one-page letters, paintings and longer collections of writings. Print arrived to Iran much later than in other regions of the world, so these anthologies provide researchers with new and fascinating information about the city at the time, Babayan said.
Babayan said the family archives shed light on Isfahan’s past in a way that will shock historians who have already read about and visited Isfahan.
“The anthologies confuse our modern perception of the city,” Babayan said. “So, for those of you who know Isfahan this may be an unexpected reading.”
The archives reveal a different Isfahan—one that is lively and sensual. A rich variety of household habits and generational ties written about and visualized in the letters, poems and drawings expose this exciting and different Isfahan.
Many scholars have studied the city’s 17th century transformation from the perspective of architecture, trade and Dutch archives, but rarely any scholars have used family archives learn about the city in a more personal and vivid way, Babayan said.
University of Michigan Middle East history scholar Kathryn Babayan, with one of the visual family archives she collected for her book, “The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan.”
Babayan research interests lie in non-elite circles. So, collecting and analyzing anthologies from a diverse blend of families and circles in the city of Isfahan felt exciting, she said.
Although men mostly wrote the anthologies, women and children also participated in the practice. For instance, women and children could read and access the anthologies, Babayan said.
Collecting these anthologies took Babayan many years, perseverance and patience. Above all, she stressed the importance of going outside of one’s comfort zone when trying to tackle a project of this magnitude.
“The best thing to do is to just go and see what’s out there,” Babayan said.
Lian Benasuly is a fourth-year student studying communication and minoring in professional writing through the journalism track. She is a web and social media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.