This ethnography narrates the story of date palms as a living infrastructure in supporting Bam gardeners as they navigate the daily uncertainties in Iran. The research focuses on two main areas. The first part examines the intimate gardener-date palm relationship, exploring how this intimate bond is nurtured through their daily interactions and the profound embodiment of the tree. This multi-species bonding serves as a source of inspiration, instilling a sense of hope and resiliency within the gardening community, especially during challenging times. To illustrate this point, the research offers a poignant example of the 2003 destructive earthquake, revealing how the date palm gardening infrastructure played a pivotal role in the recovery of Bam gardeners.
In the second part, the research contextualizes this bonding within Iran’s broader socio-political landscape. It sheds light on how the resilient date palm infrastructure emerged as a result of the land and water reform policies following the 1979 Islamic revolution.