Helena Hanzlíčková
Ústav etnologie Filosofické fakulty UK v Praze
Institute of Ethnology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague
hhanzlickova@gmail.com
Author: Helena Hanzlíčková
Language: Czech
Issue: 1/2016
Page Range: 3-35
No. of Pages: 33
Keywords: Arab marketplace; Syria; Bazaar economy; Bazaar; Bargaining
Summary/Abstract: Bazaar [bāzār] is a Persian word for marketplace. Like the Arabic term souk سوق [súq], bazaar is both a concrete trading place, where many people meet and interact, and a more abstract notion of buying and selling in the sense of demand and supply, similar to the English word “market”. Bazaar can refer to a single shopping unit, a street within the marketplace or outside its boundaries, or an entire business complex. The main aim of this paper is to describe the specifics of the bazaar in terms of Middle Eastern society and culture. The souk is seen as one of the quintessential oriental spaces. The fundamental attribute of the bazaar is the scarcity and maldistribution of information. Bargaining and clientelisation are the most peculiar market institutions yet they are also the most effective mechanisms for communicating and coordinating information among market participants. The bazaar itself, with its multifunctional character, has numerous uses and represents a rich economic base: a mix of trade, services, industries, tourism, and even accommodation. The traditional bazaar or souk is an economic institution, a communication network, and a way of life. It is a general mode of commercial activity that reaches into numerous aspects of Arab society and Syrian society in particular. A bazaar is also a major public forum, attracting diverse people who exchange information, rumours, family affairs, and opinions on economic conditions and political disputes.
Celý příspěvek (CS) / Full Text Paper: Prostorová a sociální dimenze arabského tržiště
Česká verze: HTML
Introduction
The marketplace, in Arabic سوق[1] [súq], is better known by its Persian equivalent bāzār [bázár], and is undoubtedly one of the most characteristic features of both urban and rural locations in the Arab-Islamic world. The bazaar can primarily be interpreted as an economic phenomenon, a symbol of tradition, and as a market that does not operate solely in economic terms. The traditional bazaar is simultaneously an economic institution and a specific type of commercial activity that permeates all aspects of society. The term acquires a dual meaning: similar to the English word „market“, it denotes both the commercial exchange of goods and services and the physical space where this exchange occurs, encompassing not only the site of buying and selling itself, but sometimes all its forms—from stalls and various types of shops to modern shopping avenues and malls. Súq and bazaar can refer to a single shopping street within or outside the marketplace area or an entire commercial complex. The marketplace is a multifunctional institution—it is not merely an economic system and social mechanism for the production and exchange of goods and services, but also a venue where opinions and ideologies are exchanged; knowledge is disseminated, and cultural diffusion occurs. Daily communication forms short-term and long-term relationships among the various actors who frequent the bazaar regularly or only occasionally. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the role of the Arab marketplace in the economic and social life of the Middle East[2] and to explore aspects of this institution influenced by the concept of Orientalism[3]. The goal is to define the position, significance, functions, and multiplicity of roles of the bazaar, as well as its distinctive characteristics. The study first elucidates the theory of bazaar economics, which is best demonstrated by the bargaining processes and clientelism relationships among bazaar participants. The second part is dedicated to the construction of space and time in the bazaar, their interconnectedness, and how they are reflected in bazaar activities and affect daily life in the marketplace. The text aims to show that behind the commercial activities and shopping in the bazaar lies a much more significant function that the bazaar fulfils as a centre of socialisation (intensive sharing of space). The author examined this issue in detail in her dissertation titled „The Traditional Role and Perspective of the Oriental Market Institution“. The information presented is the result of long-term research conducted in the marketplaces of Damascus, Syria, before the escalation of the current political conflict, and the text also reflects experiences with bazaars in Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. In addition to qualitative research comprising questionnaires combined with semi-structured interviews, participant observation and numerous informal interviews with bazaaris[4] in the súq environment and its surroundings were key elements of the research. The multiplicity of roles makes the bazaar a subject of architectural, anthropological, economic, sociological, historical, and political studies. Existing perspectives on the bazaar often overlook the transformations of bazaars over time and space[5] and tend to favour descriptive over analytical approaches. Most analytical anthropological and historical studies on the bazaar stem from perspectives that regard the bazaar a priori as an archaic entity, associating it with exoticism and otherness. Peasant market studies have a long tradition in social anthropology (examining issues such as the exchange of goods and services, how farmers depend on intermediaries and patrons, and the interconnectedness of urban and agricultural regions). Economists have traditionally shown little interest in markets as physical places, focusing more on market principles.
Bazaar Economy
The theory of the bazaar economy was essentially defined by Geertz’s influential study on the bazaar economy in Sefrou (research conducted between 1965–1971), a small town in Morocco with about 600 shops.[6] Clifford Geertz highlighted through his research the fact that although the role of Middle Eastern bazaars in the global economy has been recognised, specific research on these locales remains very sporadic. Geertz approaches the souq as an institution typical of the Arab world, where goods of varying quality are sold under seemingly chaotic circumstances. In his conception, the bazaar possesses characteristics that remain unchanged. “[…] in the bazaar, information is [generally] insufficient, scarce, limited, inefficiently shared, and highly valued.”[7] For Geertz, the bazaar is firmly rooted in its sociocultural context and is elusive to modern economic analysis. “The bazaar economy markedly differs from both ‚industrial economy‘ and ‚primitive economy‘.”[8] To understand the bazaar in its broadest sense, it must be viewed from three perspectives: the bazaar as a flow of economic goods and services, as an economic mechanism that sustains and preserves this flow, and as a social and cultural system into which these mechanisms are embedded.
Bazaar market economy represents a system where trade is speculative, based on numerous fragmented interpersonal transactions. The bazaar is often described as traditional; from this perspective, the bazaar is de facto an immutable entity. The surviving traditional forms of organisation suggest that the institutional patterns existing in the bazaar prevent economic change. Shifts in socio-cultural organisation mostly go unnoticed. Thus, the bazaar is contrasted with modern economy, liberal politics, and markets in industrialised societies based on the assumption of impersonal social institutions and rational abstract transactions.[9] From an external perspective, it seems that there is no accounting in the bazaar, prices are arbitrary and deliberately inflated with the goal of maximising profit for the merchant. Similar suspicion surrounds the quality of goods. In the bazaar, goods of various qualities and origins are usually „mixed“; cheap imports are combined with high-quality domestic production, brands are counterfeited, and goods are smuggled. „The degree of ignorance—from the quality of the product to current prices, market alternatives, and production costs—is very high.“[10] In an effort to avert the „information vacuum“ (information scarcity), bazaars are characterised by spatial localisation of shops[11] (in the sense of more or less uniform craft specialisation in a specific location), intense price bargaining, fragmented business transactions, and stable clientelism. The bazaar must be understood as a socio-economic microcosm, a marketing system encompassing all types of trade and traditional forms of organisation, a holistic way of life encompassing economic forms, political and social relationships, and ideological anchoring, supporting unique symbolic structures, cultural traits, and ethics. The significance of the bazaar as a specific place for trade and social interaction is critically described in a study on the Tehran bazaar by Arang Keshavarzian. “[…] the bazaar [is] a defined space containing sequences of socially embedded networks that act as a mechanism for the exchange of specific commodities.”[12] Keshavarzian emphasises the close contacts between the bazaar and the Iranian clergy. The bazaar is a symbol of tradition and therefore resists modernisation. The bazaar, which does not operate solely in economic terms, is defined as a social class. The informal economy of the bazaar meets the individual needs of actors through a unique cooperative mechanism outside the full supervision of the state. However, there is a certain level of cooperation in the relationship between state institutions and the bazaar organisation.[13]
Bazaar „Melting Pot“
At first glance, the bazaar appears to be a hectic oriental place where buying and selling take place, characterised by a multitude of colours, smells, fragrances, and linguistic and ethnic diversity. When you enter the bazaar for the first time, you may be somewhat intimidated or overwhelmed by the array of sensations and sounds; people around do not respect your personal space, they come closer, watch you, try to stop you, and make contact. One of the reasons the bazaar seems like an exotic economic phenomenon is that it encompasses everything “from prostitutes to pharmacists”[14]. The bazaar is characterised by apparent and hidden realities at all levels. It follows its own rules, often hidden behind seemingly irrational characteristics. Paradoxically, buying and selling are not the primary functions of the bazaar. The bazaar is a place where many people meet and cooperate; life in the bazaar is about the coexistence of races, nationalities, languages, and religions. Social bonding, reciprocity related not only to the exchange of goods and services but also to the exchange of information, experiences, and contacts, makes the bazaar primarily a place of interaction, self-representation, and the establishment of business and other relationships. Annika Rabo, in her study based on research of the merchant community in Aleppo, Syria, addresses the issue of commercial independence and reputation. She depicts the bazaar as a location where buying and selling take place, people meet, cooperate, and compete. “It is a place where trade occurs, where commodities circulate, where consumption is negotiated, and where desires are articulated, shaped, and exchanged.”[15] The atmosphere of the bazaar „intoxicates“ visitors not only with strong sensory stimuli but also with an all-encompassing mood, where the concept of time loses its meaning, and interpersonal relationships are based not only on similar economic interests but also on much deeper and longer-lasting foundations such as a shared worldview and approach to life.
Bazaaris
The bazaar is shaped by its members, for whom I use the collective term bazaaris (adopted into English from the Persian bāzārī). Geertz uses the term súwwáq for bazaar participants (derived from the word súq), which includes buyers and sellers, producers and consumers, masters and apprentices, importers and exporters, auctioneers, usurers, and market officials, among others.[16] The Arabic term for a merchant is tādžir – tudždžár (pl.). Not everyone in the bazaar is a merchant in the true sense of the word. One must earn this position and, above all, be perceived by others as a genuine merchant. A merchant should have a shop or office located in a good area and have long-term market experience. Being a proper member of the bazaar means sharing, expressing, and producing attitudes and values that go beyond mere profit motives. “Bāzārī is not a profession but a calling, a legacy that is passed down within the family from father to son.”[17] Being a proper member of the bazaar means sharing, expressing, and producing attitudes and values that go beyond mere profit motives. Social status plays a more significant role than the ownership of economic resources.[18] Social activities transcend class, guild, ethnicity, and sometimes even religion. On a daily basis, bazaaris eat lunch together, meet in cafes, and organise meetings in shops, warehouses, offices, and homes. They shake hands, greet each other with hugs and characteristic „kisses“ on the cheeks. Different types of súqs require different styles of dress and verbal expression! Bazaaris depend on mutual good relationships and support. The aim is to avoid conflicts; disputes are undesirable for the súq’s reputation. Information spreads quickly in the bazaar due to the intense use of space. The aspirations and lifestyle of bazaar merchants are shared even in newer parts of Arab cities, outside the central historical súqs. Bazaar merchants are thus an essential element in the dichotomy between traditional and urban populations, regardless of whether they live in the medina[19] or not.
Figure 1. Súq as a male domain. Damascus, 2007 (author’s archive).
Weddings or religious gatherings have always been opportunities for bazaaris to meet new business partners. Family alliances are a key mechanism for bonding the bazaar community. Marrying off a daughter into the bazaar meant social advancement for the entire family. Gustav Thaiss, an anthropologist who studied the Tehran bazaar in the 1970s, wrote: “In the past, as today, the bazaar was one large kinship unit because the preference and common practice was to marry within the bazaar.”[20] Bazaaris use the institution of arranged marriages to expand social networks and accumulate capital. Family ties are the foundation of all business in the bazaar. Marriages and family connections in the bazaar initiate new business relationships or strengthen existing contacts and provide a material base for business. Business is often shared among family members (brothers, father-sons, father-in-law-son-in-law) or close relatives. Family members‘ participation in joint business may be regular or not, and access to financial resources is not equal for all family members. Family businesses are established to support the family and take advantage of the cheap labour of its members. It is beneficial to have a large family where sons cooperate. However, family members sometimes become slaves to the business.
Having one’s own family is as important as having one’s own shop. The implicit goal in the súq is to be settled and independent, to own a shop (a shop of one’s own), to marry, and to have sons.[21] “A man who [owns] a shop is secure, settled, and independent.”[22] A family cooperating in its own business thus becomes a symbol of market settlement (a symbol of market settlement) and independence (an instrument for gaining independence).[23] A merchant’s position is influenced by what other members of the bazaar community know about him concerning his position within his family. Bazaaris argue that everyone should build their reputation individually, but the family is always in the background. An individual is judged by his actions, but he cannot be separated from his family name and origin. Sons initially have the support of their fathers, although dependence should not be total, and later they support their aging parents in return. Sons should not openly criticise their fathers as the business name might suffer. They should be loyal and devoted to their fathers‘ interests. Experienced merchants, on the other hand, do not try to instruct their sons or employees on how to trade. Elderly merchants usually do not keep their shops as a source of income but as a place to socialise with old friends. The bazaar community may have lost many of its privileges, but it still possesses sharing and the means to connect and support its long-standing members.
Many depict the bazaar as a bastion of foolish traditionalism and vulgar commerce, backwardness, opportunism, and greed[24], while for others, it embodies a pure and moral way of life, social consciousness, charity, ethics rooted in religious principles, and reciprocal relationships. Moral principles such as honour, solidarity, and loyalty, which often surpass economic interests, apply in the bazaar; prestige and, especially, the omnipresent game, ambiguity, groping, and risk also play a role. In itself, the bazaar is largely anonymous and elusive.
Bargaining and Clientelism
Bargaining, an attribute of free market economic exchange systems, serves economic purposes—namely, it regulates prices in societies where uncertainty and distrust in the value of commodities prevail. “Economically, markets where bargaining occurs are characterised by flexible pricing policies, non-standardised weights and measures of goods, and the absence of effective communication means to inform sellers and buyers about supply and demand conditions and to publish current prices.”[25] Through the manipulation of cultural norms and symbols, the bargaining parties—sellers and buyers—strive to eliminate the “suspicion” of commodity and price and create an atmosphere of trust that often leads to client relationships. “Bargaining is essentially a reciprocal channel between two actors who are in unity and opposition at the same time, gaining information about each other in this way.”[26] Bargaining is a ritual with its own distinctive language and gestures. This rhetorical exchange occurs between a merchant and a potential customer in the bazaar every day. The basic phrases are more or less always the same. Besides various trading tricks, such as overpricing goods or offering them at a low price, mutual trust between the two actors plays a role, facilitated by the use of kinship terms and displays of good manners—politeness, respect, and attentiveness—all under the guise of mutual profit. The merchant typically addresses his counterpart as a family member, calling him brother, mother, father, or uncle, to create the proper intimacy for closing a business transaction. A young seller familiarly addresses an older customer as uncle – cammí (Arabic); an older merchant calls a younger customer my son – ‚ibní (Arabic) or nephew – ‚ibn ‚achí (Arabic).[27]
At this point, I would like to note that bargaining is a “game,” and its goal is not to create antagonism between seller and buyer, although it may give us that impression. In the bargaining ritual, the thin line of mutual trust between seller and buyer is evident, and at stake is the merchant’s reputation. “Bargaining or a commercial transaction can be terminated at any time, resulting in a lasting client relationship or even friendship.”[28] “Paradoxically, profit in the bazaar is not the most important thing. Profit in bargaining terms is transformed into social recognition.”[29] Bargaining is influenced by many factors, primarily determined by culture and social status, which may hinder bargaining. Questions of honour and prestige prevent some highly socially positioned men in the Middle East from bargaining. Even if they know that the price of goods is inflated, they will never stoop to haggling because their reputation would be at risk. Essentially, bargaining is avoided by partners bound by reciprocal ties or relationships of interest in the movement of goods. Bargaining with a woman is sometimes seen as a sign of disrespect towards her. Bargaining is ingrained in Western perceptions of the bazaar’s nature. Polite formulas used extravagantly in the bargaining process are, for many foreigners, indicative of the “bazaar character” of the entire Arab world. Although bargaining is declining today and signs like “fixed prices” are appearing in many marketplaces, and some merchants themselves note that they dislike bargaining and that this way of shopping is exhausting for newcomers unfamiliar with local customs, it remains an effective method of “bringing order to the bazaar.”
“For Syrians, shopping is a social activity based on knowing the merchant as much as the product.”[30] Bargaining tends to culminate in an ongoing economic relationship of clientelism between buyer and seller, based on mutual trust. It is a reciprocal concept, a relationship of symmetry[31] but also opposition. “Functioning clientelism provides information about the buyer, the seller, and the commodity (a verifiable reputation guarantees quality and reliability).”[32] Clientelism essentially reduces bargaining; it has several goals—in the case of the merchant, to gain a regular customer who will spread his good reputation and the quality of his goods, and in the case of the customer, to save time searching for products elsewhere while feeling valued at that location. It is thus a mutual gain. The primary function of clientelism and repetitive exchange between partners is to “limit the time costs of search.” “The process of finding clients is simplified by spatial localisation and the ‚ethnic‘ specialisation of trade in the bazaar.”[33] McMillan argues that clientelism often establishes spatial proximity. “A buyer prefers regular shopping at a store near his residence, even though elsewhere he might get a better price or goods that better meet his needs.”[34] Clientelism does not mean that customers cannot shop at other stores offering cheaper or better products. “Some clients deliberately avoid turning the client relationship into genuine friendship, as such a position could easily be exploited by the merchant.”[35] Fanselow speaks of mutual interdependence between merchant and customer—client, who can further spread the merchant’s good reputation or information about the quality of his products, thus bringing new customers; but this bond is characterised by great fragility.[36] There is a permanent threat of losing trust, which can be disrupted by, for example, price increases by the shop owner. Clientelism relationships are not relationships of dependency but rather of certain competitiveness.[37] It may happen that a customer accuses the seller of untrustworthiness, and the seller verbally attacks the customer, saying he is not worthy of his goods.
Spatial Dimension of the Bazaar
The bazaar embodies the traditional commercial centre and the backbone of Arab-Islamic cities, usually located in the historical centre al-madína[38]. It symbolises centrality but does not necessarily represent the geographical centre of the city. It is a generator of urban forms and elements; a public forum attracting various actors who exchange and share information, political views, family matters, etc. The decline or development of the bazaar’s economic and political function and its integration into local, national, and global economies can affect the city’s development. The Arabian Peninsula was the centre of world trade even in ancient times.[39] Trade flowed from present-day Yemen through Hidžáz[40] to the Mediterranean Sea. Camel caravans were best suited for transporting goods. In the south of the Arabian Peninsula, centralised state units significantly profited from commercial activities. Bazaars existed in pre-Islamic times in two forms: as permanent urban markets and seasonal markets. A prominent example was the bazaar in cUkaz near Mecca, given its role in political, cultural, and social matters and its influence on Arabic poetry. Market towns were often governed by the local tribe and fell under the authority of the tribal leader. In most cities, merchants represented a wealthy and important segment of the population, and women commonly engaged in trade[41]. The bazaar was primarily a place for exchanging products between the city and the nomads. Annual markets held in many locations were associated with religious pilgrimages to local gods‘ shrines. Goods were exchanged, trade agreements were made; old Arab markets were always significant social and cultural events. Important negotiations between tribes were held, travel knowledge was shared, political and religious matters were discussed. This strengthened the consciousness of a common language, traditions, customs, and spiritual values. Commercial activity gained significance with the advent of Islam in the 7th century when trade between the Levant, Arabia, and the Far East flourished like never before. It can be stated that Arabs created the first true market in the sense of a network of trade relations, based on the political and cultural unity of the territory of dár al-´islám[42]. Bazaars began to be incorporated into urban environments during the Ottoman period. From the 16th century, they became the fully centralised commercial backbone of Arab-Islamic cities. To understand how significant the market’s position in Arab cities was and still is, it is essential to see this institution in the context of other elements of a typical Middle Eastern and North African city. The spatial and symbolic connection to the main components of the city (religious, residential, and administrative districts) gave the bazaar a prominent position in a political sense. Old bazaars are often located near government offices, religious institutions, traditional social places like cafes, public baths. The bazaar played a key role in the economic, cultural, and political transformation of cities across the Islamic world.
Colonialism tended to consider the medina as native quarters, often separated by a “cordon sanitaire” from newer suburbs where the foreign elite lived, creating so-called dual cities. The cramped medina was unable to accommodate the population growth, and from the 1920s, better-off families of notables (often Jews) began leaving the medina and moving to new residential districts, with the poor taking over their houses. The process culminated after World War II. In colonial ideology, the dual city created a visual juxtaposition and physical representation of two cultures, two ways of thinking: one primitive, disorderly, inward-looking (inward-looking houses), dirty and “riddled” with diseases; the other modern, organised, open, clean, and efficient.[43] In the past twenty years, the trend has reversed; land and houses in the medina are lucrative, often restored into boutique shops, hotels, and cafes. Traditional elements are folklorised and become part of modernity. The term baladisation[44] is used to describe the Arab world’s transformation.
[Marketplace] is a phenomenon of the urban landscape, a colourful, overcrowded, and noisy place[45], where a multitude of dichotomies intersect: formal and informal, traditional and modern, history and present, local and global, city and countryside, old and new, sacred and profane, mysticism and consumerism, “high and low,” craft and kitsch, tastelessness and practicality, clean and unclean, certainty and doubt, truth and lies, wealth and poverty. The characteristic of the oriental marketplace is closely linked to the harem (or haram) as a term for sacred space, a protected or forbidden place. The distinction between external and internal, public and private, male and female is key to understanding the structure of the oriental city and, by analogy, the bazaar (the bazaar as a microcosm of the city). Shops and stalls, craft workshops and manufactories, offices and warehouses, eateries and tea houses, water sources, baths and cafes, hookah lounges, gathering places and courtyards, gardens with fountains, mosques, prayer rooms and religious schools, khans, hospitals, stylish restaurants and hotels, museums—all these give the bazaar the appearance of a labyrinth.
Actors in the bazaar engage in interactions on many levels. Multiple contacts include relationships across social dimensions (business, social, political, religious, family, neighbourhood, etc.) in opposition to purely economic relationships. Bazaar ties are primarily reproduced and defined by the marketplace space—its shops, streets, warehouses, cafes, restaurants, mosques, etc.[46] Social relationships are directly related to specific locations. In markets with fabrics and bedding, women dominate, as do men in areas where tools are sold or cars are repaired. Súqs near mosques and saints‘ tombs are teeming with devout tourists, while the stationery súq is designated for students, and so on. The spatial dimension directly determines the breadth, scope, and frequency of relationships. Bazaars are public spaces, but súq shops are private places. Shops are used by bazaaris not only for business purposes but also for private activities—they meet friends and family, use them as places to rest or consume food.[47] “The merchant organises the space of his shop—and in the súq, generally also the surrounding area—to attract [specific] customers.”[48] Publicity and privacy of the place thus correspond to its purpose. “Space becomes a place when actively used.”[49] Physical space gives the bazaar its unique characteristic.[50] Physical space becomes social space only through activities and rituals, where individuals identify themselves as part of a group and differentiate themselves from others. “The place in the súq produces meaning, and meaning is tangibly anchored in the place.”[51] Among bazaaris, there is a strong sense of identification with the bazaar subculture and community. Ethnicity, religious practices, kinship patterns, and daily relationships (neighbourhood, partnership, friendship, business) bind bazaaris in many ways. Bazaaris share the same belief system, although some bazaars are quite multicultural.[52] Self-identification creates a sense of community. Thaiss speaks of an in-group feeling in connection with bazaaris. However, outsiders may see bazaaris as sectarian or a clan; self-identification and sharing help define the boundaries of their community (communal boundary). Social solidarity (given spatially) and resources allow bazaaris to mobilise and collectively defend their interests. Space is not just a physical location; it is a relational force. For bazaaris, there has always been a strong incentive to remain in the old parts of the city, where everything is “within reach,” and to maintain direct connection to commercial and financial institutions. Spatial homogeneity creates a forum where the community monitors itself, exchanges information about potential patrons and clients, and spreads knowledge through personal interactions. Bazaaris evaluate each other’s goods, share contacts, and exchange information about market conditions. Keshavarzian speaks of spatial ecology, where daily socialisation blurs class and ethnic differences (bazaaris eat together, drink tea, pray…); business exchange is thus preceded by the exchange of information about family, weather, politics, etc.[53]
“Movement patterns [in the súq] and the use of space reflect a range of social ties formed based on occupation, age, wealth, religion, and ethnicity.”[54] Men and women use the súq space differently. The súq is exclusively a male space in terms of managing offices, shops, workshops, transport, and services. Men visit their coworkers, friends, chat. Women play a role in the bazaar on two levels. They are physically present in the súq as customers and wives of merchants (e.g., bringing them lunch) and absent in phone calls with their husbands, discussing family matters, shopping, cooking, marriages and deaths, participation in the social life of the bazaar community, etc. If we visit bazaars in Arab cities, women as merchants are relatively rare. It is argued that the bazaar environment is too vulgar for a woman. Women physically trading or selling in the bazaar are mostly villagers bringing products from family farms to the market.
The bazaar encompasses commercial and production spheres, sacredness, hygiene, recreational and culinary use. The bazaar is always ready to provide facilities for all social classes. All services are represented to a greater or lesser extent. Although the bazaar was not typically a residential unit[55], merchants have always found everything necessary for all-day activity, and so it is today. Bazaars are lined with small eateries, fast foods offering local dishes and fresh fruit juices; all goods are halal[56].
Advertising in the Bazaar
In the past, goods in the súq were displayed on so-called mastabas[57]; the street space exclusively served for sales, purchases, and advertising. It was not customary for customers to enter shops! Renovation of the Damascus súqs during the Ottoman era, installation of shop windows, and lighting changed this forever. Expanding the sales area towards the street is an unwritten rule in the bazaar even today. In the street, the customer has direct contact with the seller and the goods. The seller and the customer do not essentially need to step into the shop. In the súq of Damascus, the type of business focus influences whether the bāzārī waits for customers outside the shop or inside. For some crafts, the street is essentially a workshop. Certain types of business, such as carpet sales, require more communication with the customer than others, such as selling dishes. The logical assumption is that more displayed goods attract more customers. However, the displayed goods are not usually the best quality.
A typical advertising surface in the Damascus súq is the decorative semicircles above the shop entrances. The style of inscriptions inside these historical semicircles often does not respect their historical value and was removed during the renovation of the súqs. On the other hand, these signs are very original. The biggest problem for shops is usually the lack of interior space, which they solve by expanding into the street and displaying goods and products everywhere (on door surfaces, stairs, surrounding houses or monuments); even the entrance to a mosque or parked cars covered with carpets or women’s underwear can serve as a shop window.
Figure 2. Promotional leaflet of a Damascus confectionery store. Author’s archive.
The súq does not yet have advertising options (billboards or TV spots) like supermarkets or shopping malls. Printed promotional leaflets are a rare phenomenon, but business cards or even websites are common (at least in the case of larger merchants). Advertising posters, neon signs, and boutiques can be found. The shop owner and his self-presentation are essentially live advertisements. Tasting or a small gift also serve as promotion. Sometimes, the salesman’s own body, adorned with his sales articles, acts as an advertisement. The way goods are displayed in the súq has remained unchanged over time. An interesting form of advertising that existed in Damascus until recently was shadow theatre. During the performance, the main character would praise the dishes in a nearby restaurant or the quality of furniture, and would demand the exact addresses of these merchants from his colleagues. This type of advertisement was a great side income for the actors.
The arrangement of shops in the bazaar may seem illogical at first glance, as there are dozens of shops of the same orientation in one place. It can be said that they are both advertisements and competitors to each other; this old structure ensures better control and protection of both goods and customers. The most important rule is that trade brings more trade; customers bring customers! “The profit derived from the location of a shop in a specialised súq exceeds the loss [that may be caused] by the competition of neighbouring shops selling the same goods.”[58] Rabo notes that customers prefer to stop at the shop with the most buyers.[59] Súqs with many shops selling the same goods depend on the loyalty of customers who return to merchants based on previous good experiences. In the case of purchasing common commodities at the central market, brands are not important; neither is the presentation or packaging of the product. A different case is the purchase of a dowry, wedding gifts such as bedding, towels, bathrobes, and underwear, where the presentation of the product is important. The names of some brands have been adopted into common vocabulary: klíniks is used for paper napkins or tissues, bamberz for disposable nappies, nido for powdered milk, mádží for seasoning mixes, moliniks for electrical household appliances. Traders in Syrian markets distinguish two types of goods: tudždžárí (commercial) denoting low-quality products as opposed to baladí (national, domestic) indicating high-quality local products, such as nuts, raisins, and oil. Prices for these products are higher; therefore, tudždžárí is sometimes sold as baladí. Besides shops, súqs also have stalls, small Suzuki trucks, carts, and bicycles with fruit, vegetables, drinks, pastries (“Rio kack, Rio!”, shouts the seller of the popular pastry), sweets, nuts, or various curiosities. Additionally, there are vendors of cigarettes, DVDs, newspapers, lottery tickets, balloons, soap bubbles, TV remotes, napkins, calendars, hangers, glasses, watches, socks, gas cylinders, posters, multi-functional graters, batteries, etc., moving from place to place. In Damascus, many markets are also found outside their main location. Small markets near bus stations are interesting, and the way local vendors advertise their prices is noteworthy. Textiles are mainly sold here, which the vendors have hung on their bodies, whether it is socks or jeans, and they tirelessly repeat a sentence like: “Yallah, jeans 200 lira! Ten pairs of socks for just 50!”[60] Some of them even walk around microbuses selling goods (daily newspapers, mobile phone recharge cards, snacks, etc.). Sometimes you can see small mobile shops, for example, with dishes.
Many things have changed in Damascus over the past decades, but not the lyrical calls of street vendors. Especially fruit and vegetable sellers – chadardží (sg.) like to mention the region where their goods come from to emphasise the excellent climate there.
Beetroot (many vendors offer it already cooked):
My beetroot is the best remedy for your cough!
Come closer if you have a cold!
Carrots: Their juice is good for your health!
Dessert for poor widows (or grumpy mothers-in-law)!
Potatoes: Don’t ruin your dish with expensive meat with bad potatoes!
These are not potatoes, these are truffles!
Spinach: My spinach is as soft as goat’s ears!
Figure 3. Street sale of vegetables. Damascus, 2008 (author’s archive).
Apples: Each of my apples is like a beautiful radiant face!
All my apples are from Izmir[61], and what comes from Izmir reminds us of the sea! My apples from Zabadani[62] are as sweet as sugar and muscat wine!
Apricots: They melt on your tongue!
My apricots taste as if they were filled with rose water!
Once you taste them, you will forget the price!
Oranges: These oranges from Jaffa[63] are peel-free!
Lemons: Lemons – medicine for the mentally ill! (in Arabic lajmún-lemon rhymes with madžnún-crazy)
Watermelon: Dessert for you, a treat for the evening, and food for your donkey![64]
Grapes: The season is ending! Last chance! Only wood and leaves remain on the vineyard! Baladí![65]
Figs: Pure honey, my figs!
Bees will commit suicide for you, figs!
Aubergines: Oh aubergine, blacker than the night!
My aubergines taste like meat to the poor!
Beans: My beans are from Malta, from Bloudan![66]
Eat them now or dry them for winter!
Fúl[67] – fúl mudammas[68] (beans cooked with spices, salt, olive oil, and lemon juice) is sold on the street, especially in winter; the seller is called a fawwál.
Chickpeas: Chickpeas like nuts! Balíla – cooked chickpeas with salt, garlic, and cumin are sold on the street like fúl or hot corn; a popular sweet is roasted chickpeas in sugar coating – al-qadáma.
Raisins: Like dried dates with the colour of henna, like coffee beans!
Pistachios: No empty shells among my pistachios! (pistachios are mostly roasted with salt and lemon juice in street roasteries mihmasa (sg.)).
Popcorn:[69] Fill your pockets with popcorn!
Spatial Localisation
“While the spatial definition of the bazaar is stable, its content adapts to the times.”[70] Goods in bazaars reflect both past and present. You can buy almost anything at a bazaar – common and special goods. Some commodities (such as spices, religious items, and wedding trousseau) can still only be bought at a bazaar. Besides craft specialisation, there is also a bizarre combination of various types of goods in one shop in Arab markets. The quality and origin of goods can be speculative; the bazaar is full of „antique“ fakes, copies of branded clothing, footwear, accessories, DVDs, etc. On the other hand, families renowned for the quality of their products, often beyond the country’s borders, also reside in the bazaar environment. The bazaar includes bakeries, fresh fruits and vegetables, and markets for meat, fish, and dairy products. For locals, the bazaar is not a place to buy curiosities but a regular market where you can get everything you need for the household. “It would seem foolish to look for some order in the bazaar. To some extent, however, it exists and proves to be a great advantage for buyers.”[71] Consumers have the opportunity to simply compare quality with price, as they can quickly move between shops offering the same or similar goods. Similar trades have always tended to cluster not only into „guilds“ that variously supported traders but also spatially. In the past, each product was located in a specific section of the bazaar. Products, for example, bought by people from the countryside, were sold near the city gates. Goods that are somehow related are concentrated in close proximity – e.g., jewellery stores and shops offering complete wedding trousseau, luxury sweets, children’s assortments; religious symbols and prayer items are sold near mosques, kitchen equipment is concentrated in one locality (porcelain, glass, dishes, cutlery, electrical appliances, etc.).
Bazaars on the outskirts generally offer a range of goods for local residents, primarily everyday consumer products. In Damascus, stonemasons are concentrated near the central Muslim cemetery of the old city, among others. “Physical localisation was reinforced by specialisation and market segmentation, leading to product differentiation by quality.”[72] Regionalism, ethnicity, and religion were key to market segmentation and the integration of production and trade. In the past, the location of shops within the bazaar was a manifestation of prestige, the hierarchy of craftsmen, and the strength and wealth of guilds. For example, if gold was traded in a particular street, it was strictly forbidden to offer other products there. Additionally, if a bazaar trader had a shop selling carpets in one street, they could not open a business selling silver elsewhere, which is certainly not the case today.
The „ritual“ purity of goods also played a role, often associated with the placement of calligraphers and sellers of manuscripts, books, candles, spices, fragrant essences, incense, and gold near the main mosque. Money changers and usurers were located in the central part of the súqs. Fruits, vegetables, and meat were sold at the city gates. Compatibility of products was considered, for example, cereals and spices were located in close proximity, but bakers and butchers were dispersed. On the periphery, often pushed to the very edge of markets or even beyond the city gates, were tanners, dyers, butchers, brickmakers, potters, carpenters, blacksmiths, and sellers of gunpowder – not only because of the smell, noise, and dirt that would threaten lucrative areas in the centre of the bazaar and around the central mosque, but also because of the greater risk of fire and the need for larger spaces for their activities. Near the city citadel were weapon manufacturers. On the outskirts of the craftsmen’s quarters of the cities or outside the gates were unskilled labourers, itinerant street vendors, and others who earned their daily wages on construction sites, in gardens, etc. Agricultural products and animals were traded here, and caravans were dispatched and unloaded. Wirth notes in this context his observation from Iran, where photo studios, bus stops, cheap hotels, and sellers of sweets and souvenirs – goods and services that have no direct religious connection – are located in pilgrimage sites near the tombs of saints.[73] This fact shows that specific locations are chosen for purely practical reasons, including considerations of safety.
While goods of the same kind are still found together or in close proximity, the concentration of craftsmen of one profession within a designated section of the market is no longer adhered to. Now, de facto, all types of goods are sold in all streets and bazaar sections (sub-bazaars). Particularly in the more „popular“ markets, in the side streets of bazaars, and in conjunction with the fact that the market is ceasing to be a place with traditional commodities, one can see, for example, a DVD shop next to a butcher’s shop, a bakery next to a shoe shop, watches and glasses made in China next to old handmade carpets, etc. The form of the bazaar (in terms of given space) remains unchanged, while its content undergoes changes. Many crafts have either completely disappeared or been forced to move to the periphery of the bazaar (due to the need for larger spaces for machine production, the elimination of dirt and noise in the bazaar, and the reduction of transaction and other costs).
Craft production in the Middle East has undergone significant changes since the end of World War II; machine production has impacted almost all traditional sectors at least marginally. The costs of handmade production are naturally higher, and this is reflected in the price. Ordinary customers prefer cheap Chinese imports. Traditional handmade crafts across the Arab world include carpet weaving, leather processing, metalworking, and copper engraving, and wood carving. The workshops of skilled craftsmen are open spaces, often creating and restoring directly on the street. The street thus becomes a public showcase. The textile business is widespread, and purely male tailoring workshops are scattered in many places in the bazaar. Unique are the upholstery and weaving restoration workshops, and jewellers. Shoeshiners hold a special position in the bazaar. The magnificent floral decorations for weddings are also made by men directly in the bazaar alleys.
Time in the Bazaar
Reciprocal relationships in the bazaar transcend time and space. Space and time are closely connected in many layers within the bazaar. Time influences space, the composition of customers in the súq (considering the time of day, state, and religious holidays, etc.), and even the nature of the súq as a public or private place (for commercial and private purposes). Idealising the past and expressing dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs are very typical for the bazaar. Before and After, Then and Now inherently permeate the life of the bazaar and its inhabitants. Especially bazaaris of the older generation use this dichotomy to articulate their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and relationships within the bazaar community. Before[74] the word of a merchant was as good as gold, there was no need to write contracts, as honour and a handshake were sufficient guarantees of mutual trust. Traders helped each other in good times and bad. But then Now came, disrupting the ideal state of affairs and the unwritten order. Bazaar traders openly complain that they cannot trust their business partners. Everything was simpler but better. Today, envy prevails, and distrust exists among business partners.
In addition to idealising the past, another time dimension determining life in the súq is the different times of the day. “The daily use of the medina’s space by those who work or shop there dictates the structure of information gathering and exchange.”[75] Damascus is a spatially complex and differentiated city, where gender, age, social status, and occupation play roles in movement within various city locations, especially in the súq. The specific súqs that became the subject of my research were visited at different times of the day, and thus I observed changes in the composition of visitors to the súq. Differences are noticeable at first glance: by the time of day, weekdays vs. weekends, by city quarters, by the type of goods present in the súq. Residents from the suburbs and countryside, and generally men, are present in the market in the morning hours, as it is an unwritten custom that men buy groceries for the household. Groups of younger men can be seen in the evening hours. In the time after the afternoon siesta, women predominate, usually not shopping alone but accompanied by female family members or friends. Women make up the majority of customers in súqs with textiles, accessories, bedding, and fabrics. They visit the súq during wedding seasons to buy gold and dowries. On weekends[76], the markets are filled with local families. The daily use of space dictates the structure of information gathering and exchange.
Markets operate daily or periodically. Shops usually open around 9:00 am and close around 6:00 pm (at this time goods are received[77]), in the summer months until after 9:00 pm. Opening hours depend solely on the shop owner; they are more or less regular but not typically posted on shop doors or otherwise announced. In Muslim quarters, shops are usually closed on Fridays (sometimes merchants open for a few hours after the noon prayer), and in Christian quarters, they are closed on Sundays. The primary role here is played by the religious affiliation of the seller or owner and their employees; even in Christian quarters, Muslims sell, and vice versa. Merchants usually take a break only when they are hungry or tired, not because it is break time. Therefore, the súq almost never closes (except for certain holidays, funerals, etc.). Leaving the shop and taking time off is perceived as cajb.[78] In the early morning hours, long before the first shops open, there is activity among wholesale fruit and vegetable merchants. This súq is known in Damascus as Súq al-Džumla. Food shops open earlier and close later; some shops are virtually open around the clock. In the morning, life in the bazaar is fresh… suppliers and shipments of goods arrive. At noon, the pace slows down. Bazaaris go home for lunch or enjoy their meal right in the bazaar… Especially in the summer, some shops close between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. After resting, it’s time for business again. The evening is dedicated to various discussions with colleagues, friends, relatives, or passers-by.
“Time can be interpreted as an integral part of space for the purpose of organising the rhythm of the city.”[79] Tomorrow – bukra (ar.) and yesterday – mbárih (ar.) are relative in the bazaar. Public life and sharing space are influenced by the seasons. The Islamic annual cycle, including Ramadan, pilgrimages, and various religious holidays, has an impact.[80] All periods of the year and holidays can be identified in the bazaar not only by the social composition of customers but also by the higher number of business transactions, and this can be inferred from changes in the opening hours of the súq. For example, during Ramadan, life, shopping, and eating begin in most (Muslim) parts of the city only after dark. Some products and goods appear in the markets only seasonally. In spring, the súq sells rose flowers (Rosa damascena), from which Syrians make jam and press rose oil, which has medicinal and cosmetic uses and is used as a food essence. The intersections of súqs are lined with stalls selling prickly pears and unripe almonds (coža). In summer, there are carts with watermelons, ice cream sellers, and vendors of chilled drinks. In autumn, pomegranates, olives, eggplants, and nuts appear. In winter, hot drinks and dishes are sold – e.g., sahlab[81], boiled corn, the already mentioned balíla and fúl; Christmas items in Christian quarters. Syrians like to buy in bulk; cooking[82] and preparing various homemade compotes and preserves – so-called múneh, muchallal or kabís (ar.) are very popular topics of conversation in the súq.
Figure 4. Stall with pickled vegetables – muchallal or kabís. Damascus, 2010 (author’s archive).
During Ramadan and Christmas holidays, súqs are filled with stalls selling clothing, special types of pastries (sesame pastry baráziq, Ramadan bread macaruk), sweets, and drinks (al-qamr ad-dín is a thick drink made from dried apricots; karkadé is a refreshing tea made from hibiscus flower; džalláb is a sweet syrup made from carob (locust bean), dates, grape molasses, and rose water; cirqsús or sús[83] is a bittersweet drink made from liquorice root, tamar hindí is tamarind juice[84]). Most weddings take place in summer, delighting traders in the súq with wedding dresses and jewellers, furniture sellers, home appliance vendors, and confectioners. During weddings as well as on the occasion of a child’s birth, it is customary to distribute large quantities of sweets to guests – luxuriously packaged chocolates, marzipan, candied fruits, mulabbas – almonds in colourful sugar coating, Turkish delight (a gelatine confection with nuts). The birth of a child in winter is also accompanied by the custom of serving pudding meghlí or karawíja made from rice flour, flavoured with anise, caraway, and cinnamon, and garnished with seven types of nuts; in summer, it is mulberries, tamarind juice, and pistachio ice cream. Specially prepared bitter coffee murra or sáda (strong coffee with a lot of cardamom) is also served at weddings or funerals. The change of seasons and the purchase of new clothes bring higher turnovers. Religious pilgrimage periods benefit shops focused on religious items.
Socialisation in the Bazaar
The bazaar is a place for shopping[85] and selling, and above all, socialisation – people walk, eat, and pray there. Shopping serves a much more important function that the market fulfils. I refer to social bonding, the daily interaction in the bazaar that occurs on all levels and briefly connects individuals from different countries, with different cultural, social, and religious backgrounds. Each comes to the bazaar with a different value system and purpose, but the intense sharing of space, the „all-encompassing atmosphere of the bazaar“, plays a more substantial role than mere consumption, investment, and exchange.[86] Visiting the bazaar is a social experience (the bazaar as a meeting place and leisure activity, an escape from the mundane); a business transaction can be just an excuse for making and maintaining contacts. Socialisation in the súq is influenced by the time of day, weather[87], season, and current political conditions. The súq is regularly frequented by the middle class, people from the suburbs and the countryside. For Syrians from more traditional, religiously oriented circles, a trip to the bazaar becomes almost a daily social necessity, similar to a regular trip to the mosque.
Each space in the bazaar has its function. Bazaars are not just commercial centres but markets in the original sense, communication channels where goods and money are exchanged, stories and superstitions circulate, and where reality mixes with fiction. In this context, they are a real vision of life in the Middle East, which is itself reflected in the rhythm of bazaar activities. The bazaar is cosmopolitan, connecting the central and the marginal, here and there, „us and them“. Everyday life in the bazaar is about overcoming pervasive distrust. The market as the centre of everything unofficial enjoys a certain extra-territoriality in the world of unofficial offerings and official ideology. Sweet links the bazaar to an atmosphere of magic and theatre.[88] Birds draw lots, rabbits or Roma women[89] tell fortunes.
Reading potential customers is one of the most important skills a good trader should master. Traders in Damascus are mostly very friendly; the omnipresent „welcome“ is the initial means of interaction with the customer. The customer’s reaction, accent, or dress tells the trader what „strategy“ to adopt. Local customers sometimes address the trader or seller as mucallim (teacher, master) out of respect for the profession, and in return, the trader addresses them as „brother“, „sister“, hadždží or hadždža – especially older Muslims assumed to have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca hadždž. Drinking coffee or tea usually begins and ends each visit to the súq. Masbúta – coffee with sugar and cardamom – is drunk on every occasion. Traditional cafés are still exclusively male environments (sometimes accessible to tourists). These are simple cafés or teahouses without decorative interiors and comfortable seating, where men smoke a water pipe nargíla (argíla, šíša), drink coffee or tea, play backgammon (vrhcáby), and listen attentively to a folk storyteller hakawátí. These cafés also fulfil a kind of media function, as heroic epics often reflect the country’s political situation (jokes with political undertones). The storyteller usually wears a traditional red Turkish fez or Arab tarbúš and a black cloak, holding a comical sword. He speaks loudly, and listeners identify with the characters in his story. He pauses just in time for curious guests to return to the café the next day. Old khans are undergoing reconstruction, and thus in the market environment, one finds stylish restaurants where poetry is recited, theatre is performed – typical, for example, is the dance performance of dervishes – the so-called tannúra dance; members of the mystical Sufi order reached a trance state through this dance (active meditation, where the performers wear special skirted costumes). Bazaars also house libraries, cultural institutes, museums, and internet cafés.
Figure 5. Folk storyteller hakawátí.
Figure 6. Public oven furn. Damascus, 2007, 2008 (author’s archive).
Almost every major súq has its own bakery – furn. It is a public oven where people gather in the morning and afternoon to collect fresh bread, but primarily it is a place where news, events, and gossip from the neighbourhood are shared. In the past (and in modern times, for example, during wartime), people would bring their dough to these ovens; the lack of electricity in households thus fulfils the old saying: „Let the baker bake your dough, even if he steals half of it.“ Furn thus becomes a kind of neutral territory; having fresh bread symbolises a „still“ stable, civilised life. On the other hand, having control over the public oven meant having military control over the entire locality.
Bazaar-Mosque-hammam
“The bazaar embodies the Islamic idea of the unity of the sacred and the profane.”[90] In the immediate vicinity of the central bazaar, there is usually a significant mosque, other smaller mosques, prayer rooms, tombs of saints[91], and religious seminaries, many of which were built by guilds or prominent merchants as a form of charity, located among old khans and shops. Mosques as centres of bazaars were places of judicial hearings, the announcement of laws, asylums for the poor, and they had educational and enlightening functions. Almost everywhere, the complex included madrasa, originally purely religious schools (studying the Quran, calligraphy, literature), later the term began to denote other forms of elementary education. Many were founded by significant families from the bazaar community. The mosque space serves for relaxation and even weekend family „picnics“. Markets focusing on selling books and study literature were historically linked to printing workshops and paper mills.
Daily contact between bazaar members, clergy, and students of religious seminaries provided everyone with an overview of public activities. Bazaaris share the space of the mosque for afternoon Quranic readings or merely for conversation and reflection. The mosque or church are suitable places for establishing new business contacts or deepening existing relationships (extending the chain of reciprocity). Ashraf points to the strong alliance between the bazaar and the mosque in Iran in terms of physical proximity and economic cooperation, and to certain similarities in lifestyle and worldview between the Shi’ite clergy and the bazaaris. “Members of the bazaar community and independent Shi’ite clergy were connected spatially, by kinship ties[92], finances, and not least by participation in religious affairs.”[93] It is said that the bazaar and the mosque are “inseparable twins” or “the two lungs of public life in Iran,” or that the relationships between them are close, constant, and organic.[94] The strongest formulation claims that Islam ideologically and spiritually determines actions in the bazaar. The alliance between the bazaar and the mosque persists despite economic modernisation and ideological innovation. Religious activities were an important part of social life in the bazaar, cementing the bonds between bazaaris of different ethnic backgrounds. These meetings were occasions for discussing economic and political news, neighbourhood gossip, arranging marriages, collecting donations for mosques, religious theatres, seminaries, hospitals, and contributions for colleagues in financial crisis, organising festivals, and sanctioning the reputation of bazaaris who broke the rules. During regular business hours, at least two of the five daily obligatory prayers in Islam are performed. Bazaaris can pray in any clean place. The exception is the obligatory Friday communal prayer in the mosque. Bazaaris are expected to make donations for the construction and restoration of mosques and for charity. The bazaar typically closes during religious ceremonies or the funerals of notable personalities.[95]
External and internal cleanliness of the body is among the pillars of Islam. The bazaar environment includes fountains with drinking water and traditional, so-called Turkish baths hammám. In times when home bathrooms were not common, families visited them once or twice a week. It was a social event dedicated not only to body care but primarily to sharing news and gossip from the neighbourhood. Even today, women like to organise picnics in the baths. Many ceremonies that took place in the baths were associated, for example, with entering marriage or cleansing a woman’s body after childbirth. Mothers liked to scout for brides for their sons in the baths. Some hammáms are still accessible only to men, while others have designated days or times for women. Bathing and body care have led to a boom in the soap and perfume industry. Syrians still prefer traditional straight-razor shaving by experts in old barbershops. In the bazaars, one finds modern pharmacies and bizarre shops with traditional medicine. Doctors and various fortune tellers and astrologers have their offices and practices there. Prostitution was also publicly prevalent there.
Figure 7. One of the many public baths hammám in the súq in Damascus. Damascus, 2010 (author’s archive).
The Bazaar as a Demonstration of Peace and Political Opposition
In pre-Islamic times, it was forbidden to shed blood during market times, and wartime conflicts were suspended. Markets were associated with religious pilgrimages to the shrines of local gods, leading to an increase in population. The bazaar itself was considered a safe place where no one could enter armed. After the advent of Islam, numerous markets began to be held in connection with the pilgrimage to Mecca, facilitating the exchange of information on a global scale. In many cities (such as Damascus), caravans on their way to Mecca would stay for several days, significantly benefiting the city’s súqs. The bazaar was an essential place where information spread, knowledge of new technologies, production processes, and materials was transmitted. With the goods came political and religious ideas to the bazaar, spreading education and literacy, but also enriching popular culture, national cuisine (e.g., the import of new ingredients, spices), changes in fashion (the expansion of Western clothing styles into Arab countries), and more.
Just like in private mosques and baths, the bazaars create a space for individual refinement of opinions, but also for potential expressions of resistance. The bazaar has always had a close connection to politics; the bazaar environment was and still is, to some extent, an important place for forming political currents. We can talk about a reciprocal relationship between state institutions and the bazaar organisation.[96] The political influence of the bazaar cannot be generalised; it is determined by its economic power at different times and geographical dynamics. Markets tend to become political forums, with group potential to coordinate actions and mobilise resources (financial, symbolic). A demonstration of resistance or disagreement with the current political situation can be, for example, the mass closure of shops in the bazaars, as happened in 1979 during the state coup in Iran when traders felt threatened by the Western development style, joined forces with Islamic clerics, and became one of the leading forces of the Islamic Revolution, demonstrating the mobilisation power of bazaar networks (traditional, informal, religious). The Tehran bazaar was closed for a full five months. During the revolution, the bazaar space became a political forum. Bazaaris have never directly caused regime change; their stance is more defensive, manifested in protests and shop closures. In Syria, the bazaar never wielded such power, but for example, in 1980, traders in Aleppo closed the entire súq in protest against the massacre of Muslim Brotherhood supporters[97] in the city of Hama. There was a violent military intervention[98], and the army forced the bazaaris to open the súq. Today, the súq in Syria functions as a public space for political and national protests; the súqs in Aleppo (which were expensively reconstructed a few years ago) are severely damaged. On the facades of shops in the bazaar, one often sees images of national leaders and religious authorities.[99] The interior of shops is decorated not only with old family photographs but also with political idols on posters, leaflets, magnets, etc. With the upcoming election period, photographs of political leaders, slogans, and election slogans appear on the old walls of the khans.[100] Some sellers express their private party loyalty by putting up stickers or public statements placed on their desks or shop doors. National flags, revolutionary slogans, nationalist tendencies, and especially Arabic graffiti on the walls and shop facades expressing dissatisfaction with the social order, societal ills, and corruption are all present in the súq.
Figure 8. Hafez al-Assad (Syrian president until 2000) remains an idol for many. Damascus, 2008 (author’s archive).
The bazaar can surprisingly also be a manifestation of peace – an example being the markets on the borderland of Israel between Jews and Muslims. The marketplace is a neutral territory where supporters of different religious or political beliefs cooperate. In the bazaar, at least during times of political stability, religious, ethnic, or political affiliations do not play a primary role; much more important is professional identity.
Conclusion
The destruction of the traditional infrastructure of Arab-Islamic cities culminated in the second half of the 20th century. The demographic and socio-economic structure in Syria underwent dramatic changes, with intense migration to cities. The level of urbanisation and literacy increased, while clan, kinship, and ethnic identities weakened. Life in the medina was considered backward; medieval market constructions gave way to the modern city. Since the 1960s, new shopping avenues were developed in Arab cities, intended as an extension of the bazaar’s boundaries. In reality, the goal was to create a new class of traders competing with the bazaaris. The cultural context of the bazaar was affected. The privileging of government organisations, restrictive export policies, and permanent instability in market regulations for import, export, investment, and taxation negatively impacted the entire súq and market system, as well as the quality of goods, causing price fluctuations. The state, with numerous monopolies and import privileges, began importing the same goods at lower costs; the requirement of licenses for international trade prevented many importers from continuing their business activities. The súq in Damascus faced restrictions, reduced purchasing power, and domestic production. The role of the state in the economy was strengthened, and the private sector faced existential uncertainty. Old merchant families left the bazaar, replaced by a new community of inexperienced “wannabe” traders seeking job opportunities, and competition became more significant than in the past.
The bazaar is a place of employment and investment, the distribution of goods and services. In the bazaar, stationary retail and mobile trade, private and public services, wholesalers and intermediaries, long-distance and foreign trade are closely interconnected organisationally and financially. Many markets represent transport arteries, traversed by cars and public transport. Besides being a shopping and trading centre, the bazaar serves an important function as an economic and organisational centre, a place for financial operations (banks, currency exchange), and the main centre for business transactions for many types of goods and commodities.[101] The Arab market is thus analogous to the central commercial infrastructure of modern Western cities. Bazaaris claim that communication on an individual basis and between different communities is no longer what it used to be, and bazaaris are more segregated (narrow-minded). The bazaar structure cannot disappear due to economic crisis or “implementation of modernity,” but it can be altered (lack of financial resources, loss of purchasing power and customers, disruption of supplier networks, rising costs, etc.). The bazaar can be seen as a potential source of resistance to modernism.
[1] In English literature, it most commonly appears as souk/soukh or souq, or sometimes suq. The original meaning of the word is to carry goods or lead animals to market for sale.
Since sūq in Arabic also means economy, it is necessary to always specify it with an adjective traditional – taqlídí (ar.) or popular – shacbí (ar.) in spoken and written communication to clarify the type of market being referred to.
c[ajn] is a guttural sound, a voiced consonant typical of Arabic. (ar.) in the text indicates an Arabic term transliterated into Latin script.
[2] The Near or Middle East typically includes the countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Due to the influence of English (The Middle East), the term Middle East also appears in a broader context. Maghreb (ar.) – west, refers to the Arab countries in North Africa, while mashriq (ar.) – east, includes the Arab countries in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. Bazaars in the Maghreb and the Mashriq have their specific characteristics, primarily influenced by the location and climate of the country.
[3] A concept that often presents Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilised, and dangerous. Edward W. Sacíd (Palestinian-American historian and literary theorist) is the author of the famous critical study of this concept – Orientalism (1978).
[4] These include merchants, sellers, artisans, manufacturers, suppliers, and other individuals active in the bazaar.
[5] The bazaar, as a unique element of the Islamic city, has the potential to “tell” the history of development and social changes.
[6] GEERTZ, C. Suq: The Bazaar Economy in Sefrou. In: Meaning and order in Moroccan society: Three essays in cultural analysis, Geertz, Clifford; Geertz, Hildred; Rosen, Lawrence (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979, pp. 123–313. The enormous influence of Geertz’s bazaar analysis can be attributed to the original short article: GEERTZ C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), pp. 28–32. Geertz’s article was also adopted in their study by SWEDBERG, R., GRANOVETTER, M. The Sociology of Economic Life, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol.61, No.4 (Oct., 2002), pp. 859–862.
[7] „[…] in the bazaar information is [generally] poor, scarce, maldistributed, inefficiently communicated, and intensely valued.“ GEERTZ, C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), p. 29.
[8] „Bazaar economy markedly differs from „an industrial economy“ or „a primitive economy.“ Ibid.
[9] KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, pp. 51–52.
[10] „The level of ignorance about everything from product quality and going prices to market possibilities and production costs is very high.“ GEERTZ, C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), p. 29.
[11] [Spatial] localisation reduces the cost of searching for sellers and facilitates the exchange of information about price, quality, and supply among sellers, buyers, and exchange partners. KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 141.
[12] „[…] the bazaar [is] a bounded space containing a series of socially embedded networks that are the mechanisms for the exchange of specific commodities.“ Ibid., pp. 41, 70.
[13] Ibid., pp. 60, 62.
[14] GEERTZ, C. Suq: The Bazaar Economy in Sefrou. In: Meaning and order in Moroccan society: Three essays in cultural analysis, Geertz, Clifford; Geertz, Hildred; Rosen, Lawrence (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979, pp. 178–181.
[15] „It is a site where commerce takes
place, where commodities change hands, where consumption is negotiated and desires are displayed, shaped and changed.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 12.
[16] GEERTZ, C. Suq: The Bazaar Economy in Sefrou. In: Meaning and order in Moroccan society: Three essays in cultural analysis, Geertz, Clifford; Geertz, Hildred; Rosen, Lawrence (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979, p. 173.
[17] SLADKÝ, J. Magie perských bázárů. In: Máme se bát islámu? Západ a islám, Revue Prostor 69–70, 2006, p. 230.
[18] KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 58.
[19] See note 38.
[20] THAISS, G. The Bazaar as a Case Study of Religion and Social Change. In: Iran Faces the Seventies, Yar-Shater (ed.). Praeger, New York, 1971, p. 199. Marriages between cousins are highly preferred.
[21] Establishing a reputation versus the importance of origin and family.
[22] „With a shop a man is established and settled and he is independent.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 47.
[23] Becoming independent and settled paradoxically means depending on credit and partnership. RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 47.
[24] In Iranian press, popular literature, or cinematography, members of the bazaar community (similarly to Jews in the past) are often depicted as neglected, physically unattractive, old-fashioned, unshaven, sometimes with huge hands symbolising their greed, sometimes calculating large sums of money with an abacus (not with a calculator or computer). The typical Islamic beard and rosary are a hint that bazaar businessmen hide behind Islam in an attempt to cleanse their usury and dirty business practices, and their supposed religiosity is just a pose. On the other hand, a beard or full beard is a symbol of integrity, masculinity, and reputation. The pejorative nature is also associated with the word bázárí (bazaar member) itself, as Iranians use it to describe someone who pays their debts late. When Iranians want to insult or condemn someone, they use the phrase „boru bázárí“ (literally go away, disappear!). The Tehran bazaar earned the nickname kofrestán („place of sin“) from religious authorities. KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, pp. 54–56, 74.
[25] KHURI, F. The Etiquette of Bargaining in the Middle East, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol.70, No.4, (Aug., 1968), p. 704.
[26] GEERTZ, C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), p. 32.
[27] Kinship ties indicate emotional bonds if they are reciprocal, so even an older seller can address a younger customer, for example, my father or uncle!
[28] KHURI, F. The Etiquette of Bargaining in the Middle East, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol.70, No.4, (Aug., 1968), pp. 698–699.
[29] Ibid., p. 705.
[30] „For Syrians, shopping is a social activity that is based on knowing the merchant as much as the product.“ GHARIPOUR, M. (ed.) The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2012, p. 85.
[31] Clientelism in this context has nothing to do with the client-patron relationship of lord-vassal.
[32] McMILLAN, J. Reinventing the Bazaar. A Natural History of Markets. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2003, p. 54.
[33] GEERTZ, C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), p. 30.
[34] McMILLAN, J. Reinventing the Bazaar. A Natural History of Markets. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2003, p. 44.
[35] KHURI, F. The Etiquette of Bargaining in the Middle East, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol.70, No.4, (Aug., 1968), p. 704.
[36] FANSELOW, F. S. The Bazaar Economy or How Bizarre is the Bazaar Really? Man, New Series, Vol.25, No.2, (Jun., 1990), p. 260.
[37] Geertz speaks of adversaries in a client relationship – these are not dependency relationships, but competition. GEERTZ, C. The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing, The American Economic Review 68 (May, 1978), p. 30.
[38] Al-madína/medína in contemporary Arabic also refers to the city itself, including modern districts, but in the context of bazaar issues, it refers to a specific urban morphology.
The medina is characterised by dense construction, the absence of large park areas or squares, and wide straight streets. The houses have inward-oriented courtyards with high walls, and access to them leads through narrow, often dead-end alleys. In the vicinity of the súq or bazaar, a dense network of covered or open streets with shops and workshops featuring spatial specialisation, there are mosques (the Friday mosque in close proximity to the bazaar), churches, synagogues, Quranic schools medresy, commercial complexes-khans and caravanserais, a citadel, public baths hammám, known in the West as Turkish baths, and cemeteries or saints‘ tombs.
[39] Myrrh, frankincense, balm, resin, cinnamon, and other spices grew in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula. Mecca was the main exporter of silver, gold dust, and hides, and from the Levantine region, grains, olive oil, wine, silk and linen fabrics, and weapons were imported.
[40] A region in the west of today’s Saudi Arabia; located on the Red Sea coast. The holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, are located here.
[41] Khadijah, the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad, was also a merchant.
[42] Territory where the Islamic faith is freely spread.
[43] SALAMANDRA, CH. A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2004, p. 32.
[44] Balad in Arabic means homeland, countryside.
[45] SLADKÝ, J. Magie perských bázárů. In: Máme se bát islámu? Západ a islám, Revue Prostor 69–70, 2006, p. 227.
[46] The structure of space in the bazaar allows everyone to „monitor“ the activities of others.
[47] Some shops have a small kitchen or electric stove, and sometimes even a bathroom.
[48] „A shopkeeper organises his shop space – and in the souq habitually more than his shop space – to attract [specific] customers.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 20.
[49] „Space becomes place through use and activity.“ Ibid., pp. 20–21.
[50] Understand it in terms of group identity given by the physical attributes of the marketplace.
[51] „Place in the souk clearly produces meaning and meaning is tangibly grounded in place.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 19.
[52] A good example is the Tehran bazaar. The official language of Iran is Persian, but about 25% are Turks (Turkic peoples), 8–10% Kurds, 3–5% Arabs. 90% of Iranians are (officially) Shia Muslims, but there are also Sunnis, Christians of various denominations, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Baha’is living in Iran. The Tehran bazaar reflects the polyglot character of Iran. KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 92.
[53] KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 145.
[54] „Indeed the patterns of movement and the use of space reflect a range of occupational, gender, wealth, religious, and ethnic affiliations.“ GHARIPOUR, M. (ed.) The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2012, p. 118.
[55] Public and private life is now more separated in the bazaar.
[56] Halal can be translated as permissible or allowed; it refers to the rules set by Islamic law for the slaughter of animals. In Christian quarters in Damascus, alcohol is freely sold, and pork is also available.
[57] A kind of bench for the shopkeeper and the customer.
[58] „One gains more from being located in a specialised souq than one loses from competition from neighbours selling much the same thing.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 30.
[59] Ibid., p. 32.
[60] Yallah is an Arabic expression for an exhortation. Until 2012, 1 USD was about 50 Syrian pounds (lira). Today, 1 USD is about 170 SYP.
[61] A location in Turkey
[62] A city northwest of Damascus located at a high altitude.
[63] A location in Palestine.
[64] The seller points out that the customer can make full use of the entire watermelon. The roasted seeds are a popular snack.
[65] It can be translated as domestic, thus excellent quality.
[66] A city northwest of Damascus located at a high altitude.
[67] Fava beans; there are many proverbs related to the consumption of fūl – for example, „Fūl in the morning – breakfast for kings; fūl for lunch – food for the poor; fūl in the evening – dinner for donkeys.“
[68] It can be translated as „buried under hot ashes,“ because in the past, beans from eateries were taken in large quantities to public baths, where they were stewed all night under hot ashes; it is a popular breakfast dish.
[69] In Arabic fušár.
[70] „While the bazaar is spatially fixed, its contents have been fluid over time.“ KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 45.
[71] SLADKÝ, J. Magie perských bázárů. In: Máme se bát islámu? Západ a islám, Revue Prostor 69–70, 2006, p. 228.
[72] KESHAVARZIAN, A. Bazaar and State in Iran. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007, p. 193.
[73] „Their location directly at the entrances to mosques is economically advantageous.“ WIRTH, E. Zum Problem des Bazars (sūq, çarşı). Versuch einer Begriffsbestimmung und Theorie des traditionellen Wirtschaftszentrums der orientalisch-islamischen Stadt, Islam li (1974), 203–60; lii (Feb., 1975), 6–46 (fund.), Berlin, p. 243.
[74] The exact timeframe of before
is not mentioned. „Before“ was essentially anything except the present. RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 103. „Before“ in Syria may refer to the pre-Baathist period, now to the time before 2011, in Iran to the time before the Islamic Revolution, etc.
[75] „The daily use of space in the medina by many people working or shopping there serves to give structure to the collection and exchange of information.“ Ibid., p. 36.
[76] In Syria, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday; the Muslim Friday is essentially the Christian Sunday.
[77] In some shops, goods are received continuously throughout the day.
[78] It can be translated as shame, disgrace.
[79] „Time can be seen as an integral part of space to organize the rhythm of the city.“ RABO, A. A Shop of One’s Own – Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia 4, I.B. Tauris, London-N.Y., 2005, p. 36.
[80] The Western (Gregorian) calendar is the basis for the civil calendar, which governs Christian holidays, public holidays, the start of the new year, and the beginning of the school year.
[81] A drink made from ground orchid root mixed with hot milk and cinnamon, attributed with aphrodisiac effects.
[82] In summer, light dishes are preferred, in winter hot, sweet, and fatty foods. Muslims traditionally cook white food on the New Year of the Islamic calendar, so that the entire year is white, meaning good. Similarly, Christians cook special dishes on various religious holidays. Food is also a popular folk medicine.
[83] In the past, it was customary to serve sūs on special occasions: birth, marriage, return from a trip, for healing, or to bless the deceased. In summer, it was traditionally served chilled with watermelons in public baths, and in winter it was replaced by orange juice; suwiq, fresh snow (brought from mountainous areas) with orange juice or grape molasses, was popular.
[84] Tamarind juice is traditionally dispensed by sellers, known as sawwás (sg.), in front of the entrance to the central Souq al-Hamidiyah in Damascus from large containers carried on their backs.
[85] Sometimes it’s just “window shopping”.
[86] Similarly, for example, participation in a Catholic Mass is not for some participants an expression of deep religiosity, but much more important is “greeting each other”, sharing the latest news.
[87] In Syria, there is a long dry summer and a short rainy cold winter. Covered markets are protected from the rain, but in stone shops it is quite cold in winter. Heating is mostly provided by air conditioning or electric heaters.
[88] SLADKÝ, J. Magie perských bázárů. In: Máme se bát islámu? Západ a islám, Revue Prostor 69–70, 2006, p. 226.
[89] A woman who reads fate, usually from the palm, is called a bassára.
[90] SCHARABI, M. Der Bazar: Das traditionelle Stadtzentrum im Nahen Osten und seine Handelseinrichtungen. E. Wasmuth (fund.), Tübingen, 1985, pp. 52–53.
[91] Mosques and saints‘ tombs have always served as a refuge for individuals persecuted by the state.
[92] Many clergy came from the bazaar environment or married into bazaar families, or their education was funded by the bazaar. The older generation of bazaaris received their education in religious elementary schools, and on the other hand, business was a legal profession for many clergy. Merchants hired clergy as lawyers, accountants, clerks, notaries, etc.
[93] ASHRAF, A. Bazaar-Mosque Alliance: The Social Basis of Revolts and Revolutions, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. l, No.4. (June, 1988), p. 541.
[94] Ibid., p. 538.
[95] The bazaar provides space for religious rituals such as taczíja – a dramatic form, known as a passion play, depicting the martyrdom of Muhammad’s grandson Husayn (Battle of Karbala, Iraq, 680 AD).
[96] Iranian bazaaris do not desire the return of the monarchy, but they agree that under the Shah’s rule, everything was simpler because the pro-Western monarch supported capitalism and the private sector.
[97] al-Ichwán al-Muslimún (ar.) is one of the largest Islamic movements with pan-Islamic and Islamic fundamentalist characteristics, calling for a return to the roots of Islam and the domination of the world by Muslims.
[98] These events are known as “al-´Ahdás,” which can be translated as “Events.”
[99] A huge billboard with a photo of President Bashar al-Assad with the inscription in Arabic “minhibbak” – “we love you” hung a few years ago in Damascus at the entrance to Souq al-Hamidiyah.
[100] In support of the Islamic movement Hezbollah, shops in Damascus markets display flags, magnets, and stickers with the leader of the movement, Hassan Nasrallah.
[101] Damascus súqs played an important role in the city’s economy until banks were established in the 1920s.
References
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