Atri Hatef Naiemi

In my postdoctoral research project, titled On the Periphery of the Ilkhanate: Provincial Architecture in Post-Conquest Iran, I am focusing on the cities which flourished under the patronage of local dynasties in the provinces of central and southern Iran during the Ilkhanid period and the few decades following the dissolution of Ilkhanid rule in the 1330s. More specifically, this project is concentrating on the construction programs sponsored by the Qutlugh-Khanids (1222–1306), the Muzaffarids (1314–93), and the Injuids (1335–57) in their major cities of Kerman, Yazd, and Shiraz. Through the examination of the urban landscape of the cities, this study seeks to uncover whether the large-scale architectural and urban projects conducted in the provinces were in accordance with the imperial projects undertaken in the Ilkhanid capitals; or whether local governors created their own formal and functional vocabulary as a means of domestic legitimation. Shedding light on the center-periphery relationships, this project contributes to the understanding of the interculturalism that unfolded following the Mongol conquest of Iran.