Conceptualizing the bazaar.

A complete victory of society will always produce some sort of “communistic fiction,” whose outstanding political characteristic is that it is indeed ruled by an “invisible hand,” namely by nobody. Hajj Ahmad is a gruff middle-aged man with an appearance befitting a stereotypical bazaari – portly with an unshaven full visage, pudgy hands emblazoned with bulky carnelian rings, and a well-worn set of prayer beads constantly in motion. His head and eyebrow gestures were expressive, and his measured words betrayed his Azeri roots. I met him at an early stage in my research on the Tehran Bazaar during the summer of 1999. A carpet seller who dabbled both in production and export, he was quite willing to share his experiences and opinions. Over several cups of tea and cigarettes, he patiently and quite enthusiastically answered my questions about the carpet trade, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the happenings in the caravanserai. Since he was from a long line of carpet dealers centered in the Tehran and the Tabriz bazaars, I turned our conversation to the practices and life in the Tehran Bazaar. Immediately, however, our roles as interviewer and interviewee were reversed. Hajj Ahmad matter-of-factly asked, “What do you mean by the Bazaar?” I quickly responded by explaining that I meant this marketplace and not the broader abstract notion of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]