Local history as productive nostalgia? Change, continuity and sense of place in rural England

Abstract

Local history groups are often negatively associated with a tendency to indulge in nostalgic practices that yearn for a romanticised past and propagate resistance to change. Their role in local politics and power networks (particularly in relation to planning and development processes) has also been critiqued as exacerbating issues of social inequality and exclusion. While not contesting the realities of such arguments, this paper adds nuance to such debates by using the notion of 'productive' or 'mobile' nostalgia to explore possibilities for more positive renderings of local history and heritage activities. Empirical evidence from qualitative research in a rural village in Norfolk, England, is drawn on to demonstrate the role of these practices in providing a sense of continuity amid a continuously changing locale through the reassertion of place identities and attachments. Although by no means apolitical, this process need not necessarily be one of preservationism and resistance to change, but can be a mechanism through which residents are able to accept, or even welcome, changes to the social and physical constitution of their village. The paper also critically considers the value of productive nostalgia as a concept through which to explore local history practices and wider heritage movements.

The Hidden Life of the Historical System of Rural Roads in a Sector of the Guadarrama Mountains, Central Spain

“…All rural cultural landscapes have a local expression (Schein, 2010;Sauer, 1941;Ansola, 2018;Swaffield & Primdahl, 2014). The historical reconstruction to date of local rural trails suggested their interpretation in a particular context (Hardy, 1988, Wheeler, 2017. As Clark (1997) states, the cultural turn in rural and historical geography benefits the micro-scale level of study.…”

La nostalgie comme catégorie géographique : une proposition théorique

“…De son côté, Wheeler () reprend l'idée de nostalgie productive pour analyser les groupes de défense d'histoires locales dans un village rural d'Angleterre. À partir de son étude de cas, l'auteure discute l'idée selon laquelle les pratiques de remémoration du passé seraient une forme de conservatisme ou de résistance contre le changement.…”

“…Dans ce cadre, elle interpr ete la nostalgie comme une force productive permettant de restaurer un sentiment de continuit e. Elle observe que les pratiques nostalgiques d'histoires locales peuvent se d efinir comme un m ecanisme au travers duquel les habitants etablis approfondissent leurs connaissances et consolident leur sentiment d'appartenance au lieu et o u les nouveaux r esidents s'int egrent socialement. Wheeler (2016) explique que la nostalgie, incarn ee dans les pratiques patrimoniales, valorise les personnes qui ont une connexion affective avec le pass e et en même temps peut provoquer un sentiment de continuit e facilitant une construction communautaire plus ouverte dans la localit e rurale.…”

Narrativizing (and laughing) spatial identities together in Meänkieli-speaking minorities

“…Local nostalgia can also be productive. "The value of productive nostalgia" has been claimed as a concept through which local history practices and wider heritage movements can be explored (Wheeler, 2016).…”