Nostalgia Research Articles

The effect of COVID-19 risk perception on pro-environmental behavior of Chinese consumers: Perspectives from affective event theory.

COVID-19 has altered human cognition and changed the cultural values of society. However, there has not been much debate among scholars about whether these above changes have led to an increase in pro-environmental behavior (PEB) of Chinese consumers. A comprehensive model was developed based on affective event theory. An online questionnaire was distributed, and 501 usable questionnaires were collected. In addition, two complementary approaches were employed: partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA). The PLS-SEM results showed that COVID-19 risk perception, nostalgia, the awe of nature, and attitude were found to have a positive effect on PEB; and the moderating effect of power distance belief (PD) between nostalgia (NO), attitude (AT) and PEB was confirmed. According to the NCA results, AT and NO are necessary conditions for the PEB of consumers. This study provides deeper insight into the understanding of consumers' pro-environmental behavior in the context of COVID-19 through the combined use of PLS-SEM and NCA.

Rose-tinted spectacles: An autoethnography of a lone-mother’s experiences within the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruption and changes to all levels of life in Britain. This article uses autoethnography as a method of research, reflexivity and transformation, to explore the complexities of lone-motherhood during the pandemic. An account is given of how, for myself, the concept of lone-motherhood was socially constructed. Evocative vignettes reflect how I look inwards at my self, as a lone-mother in a pandemic and back outwards at others, hopefully eliciting responses, reflection and dialogue from readers.

Book Review: The Aesthetics of Nostalgia TV: Production Design and the Boomer Era

Book review of: The aesthetics of nostalgia TV: production design and the boomer era / Alex Bevan. London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. 264 pages. ISBN: 9781501331411 (hardback), 9781501368097 (paperback), 9781501331435 (e-book)

Affective scaffolds of nostalgia

In this paper I analyse nostalgia by reflecting on the theories coming from cultural studies, psychology, sociology and philosophy. Then I use theories of situated affectivity to achieve a better understanding of the role the environment plays in this affective phenomenon. I focus on the way nostalgia is “ordinarily” experienced today, that is to say in a society deeply influenced by technologies that constantly allow quick access to an infinite amount of nostalgically relevant material. To better achieve these goals, I mainly focus on childhood nostalgia, which is one of the, if not the, most widespread kinds of nostalgia. In the first part of this paper, after having introduced the meaning and history of the term nostalgia, I focus on Boym’s theories to verify if her classification can be applied to the everyday experience of nostalgia, especially childhood nostalgia. In the second part, I show how at its core nostalgia consists in a selection and renarration of memories that deeply shape and reveal one’s personal identity. In the third section I offer an introduction to the concept of affective scaffolding. In the fourth section I show how the media we consume through material culture constitutes a synchronic scaffold for the alleviation of the sense of nostalgic longing. In the fifth section I show how the processes of selection and renarration can also be scaffolded, and I discuss whether these processes can be externally influenced in a way that resembles what Slaby calls mind invasion.

Nostalgia and National Identity: Idea of Revisiting the Past in Latvian Fiction

One of the most popular themes in Latvian literature which has regularly arisen at different stages of its development since the 19th century is the idea of returning to the roots, the depiction of a mythological world scene when people lived according to the rhythms of nature, in full harmony with themselves and the world. Ancient times are depicted as a time when Latvians felt free living at their farms and followed the rules of the mythical time. This peculiar feature which we analyse on the basis of literary works, describes vividly the nation’s collective consciousness, desires, and needs. The need for emphasizing the idealised ancient times in the nation’s consciousness is related to the most significant transitional stages in the development of the country, which are characterised by the increased attention to the issues of national identity. During difficult stages in history, nosta lgia is a security mechanism which looks for stability in the past which we do not have in the present. The aim of the paper is to see how the nostalgic reflection on the idealized ancient times in the Latvian literature is related to the pivotal stages in the country’s history when special attention was paid to the national awareness and identity issues.

A new species of romance: Walpole’s nostalgic fusion of medieval and modern

Cilj rada je da rasvetli vezu između prošlosti isadašnjosti ostvarenu u Otrantskom zamku Horasa Volpola(Horace Walpole), način na koji je ta veza uspostavljena, te udeonostalgije u stvaranju gotskog romana nazvanog novom vrstomromanse. Horas Volpol bio je engleski plemić i kolekcionarfasciniran gotskom arhitekturom, srednjovekovnim životom iprošlošću uopšte. U ovom duhu napisao je 1764. godine svojroman prvenac, Otrantski zamak, čiji žnačaj ne leži toliko unjegovoj umetničkoj vrednosti, koliko u činjenici da je u pitanjupionirski gotski roman iz kog su pisci crpli inspiraciju dugonakon njegovog objavljivanja. Elementi poput smrti, ludila,propadanja, proročanstava i natprirodnih događaja koje jeVolpol spojio u Otrantu, mogu se bez većih poteškoća uočiti unaučno-fantastičnim i delima horor žanra današnjice,prvenstveno u književnosti i kinematografiji, a zatim i upopularnoj kulturi uopšte. Imajući ovo u vidu, mišljenja smo daOtrantskom zamku valja posvetiti pažnju, čime bi se moglodoprineti potpunijem razumevanju savremenih umetničkihdostignuća nastalim po ugledu na njega, kao i obogaćivanju onihkoja će tek uslediti.

Debaty o pamięci w kontekście relacji polsko‑żydowskich ostatniego stulecia Rezonans medialny wzajemnych stosunków na tle obchodów 50.rocznicy wydarzeń marca 1968 na łamach tygodników „Polityka” i „Sieci”

Celem podjętym w artykule jest przedstawienie w bardzo ogólnym zarysie stosunków polsko‑żydowskich w latach 1918—2018 oraz ich współczesnego obrazu kształtowanego w ramach dwubiegunowo prowadzonej narracji politycznej, określanej jako heroiczno‑nostalgiczna oraz krytyczna. Postaram się wykazać, że opowieści o wspólnych losach, wywierające wpływ na kształtowanie wizerunku naszego narodu, stały się obecnie kolejną linią ideologicznego podziału społeczeństwa polskiego. Trwa nieustający spór o różnym natężeniu na temat występowania antysemityzmu w dziejach niepodległej Polski, a intensywności nabiera przy okazji przywołujących ten problem bieżących wydarzeń, takich jak np. nowelizacja ustawy o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej, obchody rocznic wyzwolenia obozu koncentracyjnego w Oświęcimiu, powstania w getcie warszawskim, wydarzeń polskiego Marca 1968 roku. W artykule przedstawię punkty sporne w historiografii wspólnych, polsko‑żydowskich, doświadczeń oraz analizę rezonansu medialnego niechlubnych wypadków marcowych, jaki — na łamach tygodników opinii „Polityka” i „Sieci” — powstał wiosną 2018 roku przy okazji obchodów 50. rocznicy tych wydarzeń.

Coming Home: Lesbian Poetics and Homelessness

As a poet of the Irish diaspora, Cherry Smyth queers the environment of her construction (Northern Ireland) by examining the experiences and perceptions of her non-heteronormative orientation when she returns home from London. Smyth delves into memory, nostalgia, forgetting and remembering to articulate her search for a home. This can be read most vividly in her poem “Coming Home”. The visibility of lesbian poets has been historically displaced, silenced and eradicated by the patriarchal domination of lyric poetry, often leaving lesbian poets homeless in the tradition. Rather than ever arriving at home, Smyth is continually coming home and this coming is painful, shameful and erotic all at once and thereby makes a home out of being queer. These, and other issues, are discussed using an auto-theoretical queer approach.

The “power of incantation”: A linguistic analysis of European theme parks’ websites

Representing “an instance of highly specialized discourse” (Gotti 2006, p. 21), the language of tourism has become an area of great interest in academia, where its multifaceted essence has been studied from different, but intertwined, perspectives. A common feature that characterizes tourist materials is the shared aim of convincing future clients to choose the tourist attraction they are promoting, implementing specific verbal, visual and multimodal techniques. Amongst the strategies commonly associated with the language of tourism promotion tense and magic can be found (Dann 1996). The first projects the tourist outside of present time, denying the existence of time itself, or by transporting the tourist into a nostalgic past or into a utopic future. Magic, on the other hand, relies on the “power of incantation”, and on the transportation to locations that do not only exist outside of time, but also outside of a physical place. This contribution aims at investigating how such strategies come into play in the promotion of major theme parks across Europe. Looking specifically at the language used in the construction of narratives in the official websites of eight major European theme parks, the data will be analysed through both a qualitative and quantitative approach. The use of keywords and expressions pertaining to these two dimensions will be analysed and commented upon, with the aim of investigating which distinctive promotional strategies are used to “convert [tourists] from potential to actual clients” (Dann 1996, p. 2) in the domain of theme parks.

Generational Temporalities and Rhythm-analysis

In his theory of generations Ortega y Gassett suggested what others have come to call the “pulserate” hypothesis, where he argued that generational exchanges occurred in thirty-year cycles. His student Julian Marias later qualified this to fifteen years. This mechanistic theory has, of course, met with criticism – for being too mechanistic, and for being insensitive to different types of temporalities. Nonetheless, the self-perception of generations is not only guided by the relation to coevals, but also to, what Ricoeur calls “contemporaries, predecessors, and successors”, that is, the generations that came before, those with whom one shares experiences as coevals, and those who will succeed oneself. In this paper will be discussed the relations between the – often nostalgic – memories that communify coevals, and the experiences of generation as kinship that impact on a person’s perception of their place in the generational succession order, and how this can be developed into a generational rhythm analysis. It is argued that the rhythm of collective social life, which is arrhythmic along diversities in the combination of life-course and generational features seems to prevent the increase in “generational turnover” that could be expected through the increased speed of the “technological turnover” that follow from digitisation.

Lithuanian returning migrants: between failure, nostalgia, ant the desire to improve Lithuania

Lithuanian returning migrants: between failure, nostalgia, ant the desire to improve Lithuania

Temporality in Nick Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels

Nick Joaquin has been read as nostalgic of Filipino Hispanic culture. While it’s true that most of Joaquin’s works deal with the country’s Hispanic past, his works account for more than just nostalgia. A lot of studies that make use of postcolonial theory show how this Filipino Hispanic culture as depicted in Joaquin’s works can be construed as a form of resistance against US neocolonialism, on one hand, and nativist nationalism, on another. Using postcolonial and narrative theories, this paper argues that Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels should also be read as a strategy for resisting US neocolonialism and a critical view of nativism, shedding light on the disjunction among history, culture, and literary consciousness.

‘Shape, Form, Colour’ … and Music: Abstraction, Meaning, and Nostalgia in 1960s Scottish Industrial Documentary

‘Shape, Form, Colour’ … and Music: Abstraction, Meaning, and Nostalgia in 1960s Scottish Industrial Documentary

Nostalgia: It's not what it used to be

Nostalgia: It's not what it used to be

Book review: Nima Naghibi. 2016. Women Write Iran: Nostalgia and Human Rights from the Diaspora

Nima Naghibi. 2016. Women Write Iran: Nostalgia and Human Rights from the Diaspora. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 978-0-8166-8382-6

The Geography of Nostalgia: global and local perspectives on modernity and loss

No disponible

EUROSPINE 2017 FULL PAPER AWARD: Time to remove our rose-tinted spectacles: a candid appraisal of the relative success of surgery in over 4500 patients with degenerative disorders of the lumbar spine, hip or knee

Studies comparing the outcome of spine surgery with that of large-joint replacement report equivocal findings. The patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) used in such studies are typically generic and may not be sufficiently sensitive to the successes/failures of treatment. This study compared different indices of "success" in patients undergoing surgery for degenerative disorders of the lumbar spine, hip, or knee, using a validated, multidimensional, and joint-specific PROM. Preoperatively and 12months postoperatively, 4594 patients (3937 lumbar spine, 368 hip, 269 knee) undergoing first-time surgery completed a PROM that included the Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) for the affected joint. The latter comprises a set of single items on pain, function, symptom-specific well-being, quality of life, and disability-all in relation to the specified joint problem. Other single-item ratings of treatment success were made 12 months postoperatively. In multiple regression analyses, controlling for confounders, the mean improvement in COMI at 12months was greatest for the hip patients and lowest for those with degenerative spinal deformity (=the statistical reference group) (p<0.05). Compared with spinal deformity, the odds of achieving "success" were: higher for hip (OR 4.6; 95% CI 2.5-8.5) and knee (OR 4.0; 95% CI 2.1-7.7) (no difference between spine subgroups) for "satisfaction with care"; higher for hip (OR 16.9; 95% CI 7.3-39.6), knee (OR 6.3; 95% CI 3.4-11.6), degenerative spondylolisthesis (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.2-2.2), and herniated disc (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2-2.4) for "global treatment outcome"; and higher for hip (OR 13.8; 95% CI 8.8-21.6), knee (OR 5.3; 95% CI 3.6-7.8), degenerative spondylolisthesis (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.3-2.1), and herniated disc (1.5; 95% CI 1.1-2.0) for "patient-acceptable symptom state". Patient-rated complications were the greatest in degenerative spinal deformity (29%) and the lowest in hip (18%). The current study is the largest of its kind and the first to use a common, but joint-specific instrument to report patient-reported outcomes after surgery for degenerative disorders of the spine, hip, or knee. The findings provide a sobering account of the significantly poorer outcomes after spine surgery compared with large-joint replacement. Further work is required to hone the indications and patient selection criteria for spine surgery. The data should be used to lobby research funding-bodies, governmental agencies, industry, and charitable foundations to invest more in spine research/registries, in the hope of ultimately improving spine outcomes. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.

Il significato fluttuante dei monumenti. Il caso del monumento bulgaro all'Armata Rossa tra pratiche quotidiane e afflati nostalgici

Il significato fluttuante dei monumenti. Il caso del monumento bulgaro all'Armata Rossa tra pratiche quotidiane e afflati nostalgici

Authenticity and Uncertainty: The Spring FestivalTaghm in Shimshal

Taghm in Shimshal is much more than simply a „traditional‟ or „authentic‟ spring festival in a „remote‟ high-mountain village. It has become the focal point of intersecting discourses and struggles addressing sentiments of uncertainty and nostalgia, of ambiguities and anxieties that at least partly are mirrored in the invocation of a past when „people took care of one another‟. My brief exploration of the festival in the valley uncovered a considerable complexity of diverse positions and assessments among its people. Interestingly, in spite of the uncertainty voiced in the days before the taghm, the festival itself could be read in an almost Durkheimian manner as a ritual recreating community, for in the festival itself no friction became apparent. On the contrary, the Shimshalis celebrated taghm with joy and fervour. Moreover, as thumon blew in the right direction, there was hope for a plentiful harvest that year.

Mārciena – between Legacy and Nostalgia

Mārciena – between Legacy and Nostalgia