Zwischen Tradition und Moderne: Die fotografische Postkarte im Iran als Medium visueller Kommunikation (19.–20. Jahrhundert)
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Abstract
This dissertation examines Iranian photographic postcards produced between approximately
1900 and 1925 as a new medium situated at the intersection of tradition, modernity, and social
transformation. The central objective is to determine to what extent the combination of
photography and the postcard functioned in Iran as a means of communication, an instrument
of cultural exchange, and a factor in political, social, and cultural modernization.
The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach combining historical analysis, visual studies,
media studies, and cultural theory. Surviving postcard collections are analyzed with particular
attention to visual motifs, titles, handwritten messages, production contexts, circulation
networks, and patterns of reception. In addition, the political, economic, and infrastructural
conditions of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iran are taken into account in order to
situate the postcards within their broader historical context.
The findings demonstrate that the photographic postcard extended far beyond its function as a
simple carrier of information. Owing to its low production costs, ease of circulation, and visual
immediacy, it developed into an early mass medium that enabled new forms of communication.
Whereas photography had initially remained largely confined to courtly and elite circles, its
integration into postcards made photographic images accessible to a much wider public and
significantly expanded their social relevance.
Photographic postcards acquired particular importance during the Constitutional Revolution
(1905–1911). In a period marked by political upheaval and restrictions on the press, postcards
offered comparatively open spaces of communication. They documented revolutionary events,
represented political actors, and circulated competing ideas of authority, legitimacy, and
national identity. In this respect, they emerged as an independent medium of political publicity
and visual opinion formation.
At the same time, the postcards documented urban and rural life, social groups, ethnic diversity,
occupations, gender roles, and religious as well as cultural practices. They provide valuable
insights into everyday life in Iranian society and reflect processes of cultural self-
representation. At the same time, certain categories of images reveal ethnographic, touristic, or
exoticizing perspectives through which cultural difference was constructed and communicated.
A central conclusion of the dissertation is that Iranian photographic postcards functioned as a
media bridge between local and transnational publics. They facilitated communication across
geographical and cultural boundaries and shaped perceptions of Iran both domestically and
abroad. Moreover, they contributed to the formation of collective identities by preserving and
disseminating social symbols, sites of memory, and historical narratives in visual form.
The dissertation concludes that Iranian photographic postcards between 1900 and 1925
constituted a significant medium of early visual mass communication. They were both an
expression and a driving force of social transformation, contributed to the emergence of new
public spheres, and continue to hold substantial value as historical sources for the study of
media history, modernization, and the visual culture of Iran.
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