A Historical Narratology of Clavijo's Journey to Iran: Reconstructing Everyday Life during 1403-1406 AD

This paper will examine a package in which, on one hand, there is the academic and disciplinary principles of communication and cultural studies and how they relate to anthropological studies including studying Clavijo's journey to Iran that took place between 1403 and 1406 (Mongols and Timurids). On the other hand, there is an assumption about presence of a link between the above-mentioned historical reports and cultural studies, and the methodological problems surrounding construction of historical evidence. The claim here is that these methodological considerations will allow us to construct the contextual aspects of everyday life in the period in which this journey took place. By 'context’, I mean the details of everyday life in that period, as issues that have often been neglected in historiographic reports. I will use Clavijo's journey reports which are available as text both in English and Farsi. The difference between these two analyses is that Attar Neyshabouri introduced it observations in accordance to his lived experience while Clavijo was a political and Spanish figure who had no previous touch on life in Iran. His observations are very useful because they provide an understanding of the context of everyday life at that time. I will offer this study with an emphasis on observing elements such as housing, food, and clothing, on one hand and political culture of people and state, on the other. In the end I will offer an argument on the power structure and everyday life.