History, Society, Representation: Ideological Functions of Photography in Qajar Era: Before and After the Constitutional Revolution

The history of Iranian photography is not secluded from the history of this country. Given that, we can properly read out this history by considering the political and social context. To arrive at a more profound understanding of the conditions of Iranian photography in the Qajar era (before and after the Constitutional Revolution) and to study the role of this new media in that period, the authorglances at the history of Iranian photography through a discursive lens. He attempts to answer these questions: “What kind of discourse was formulated in this period, and how? What is the relationship between this kind of discourse and power? What other kind of discourse has been rejected as a result of the dominance of this discourse? The conceptual and methodological framework of this paperis based on Michel Foucault`s thoughts. The purpose of this article is "genealogy" of photographic discourse "before and after the Constitutional Revolution". It also studies the "ideological" role of photography in that period. The author, at the beginning, pays attention to the conditions of theem ergence of the discourse of photography in the Qajar era and clarifies that a "political" discourse was being formed and then gained dominance based on the traditional conception of "politics" and "power".Following the Constitutional Revolution, this discourse transformed substantially. Finally, the author explains that the "politically" (dominant) discourse led to rejection of the "socially" (silent) discourse in the history of the Iranian photography.