Naragh, a Shining City in the Desert: A Study in Anthropological-Historical Demography

Anthropological demography has emerged as a new field aimed at a deeper study of demographic phenomena. Researchers seek to achieve what John Caldwell called the “illuminating experience” by integrating qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of this paper is to examine the demographic changes and increasing aging in the historical city of Naragh. In terms of anthropological demographic approach, this paper used several data such as ethnography and historical studies as research method. The results of this study show that historical reasons such as famine, Hossein-Kashi rebellion in Naragh, earthquake and religious conflicts are related to macro-demographic approach and other factors such as culture and disadvantages of a social institution such as gender and economy prevailing in this region are related to micro-demography. In summary, all the above reasons have led to the emigration of many people (mainly men), negative population growth rate, age structural transition (AST) and increasing aging in Naragh over time.