The Instant Past: Nostalgia and Digital Retro Photography

Bartholeyns, Gil

doi:10.1057/9781137375889_4

Cited by 32 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Our memory-images guide how we act and think in the now, and, as I argue below, a memory-image of past belonging can become a perception of belonging in the now. In other words, memory can be used to ameliorate a present lack of belonging, which in the MOP accounts is expressed in the form of ‘biographical nostalgia’ (Bartholeyns, 2014).…”

Section: Self and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Belonging from afar: nostalgia, time and memory

May

2017

The Sociological Review

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Belonging is a fundamentally temporal experience that is anchored not only in place but also time, yet this dimension of belonging has so far remained under-researched. Based on an analysis of 25 British Mass Observation Project accounts I argue that a focus on the temporal location of belonging contributes to our knowledge about how memory is used to create a sense of belonging, and the consequences this has for the self. The paper is structured around two interrelated arguments. First, that the temporal location of belonging -either in the past or the present -has consequences for how time is experienced and how memory is utilised in creating a sense of belonging. Second, that nostalgic belonging from afar, of which three types are identified in the MOP accounts, should not be understood merely as a way of disengaging with the present. Past sources of belonging can endure in a virtual sense through the act of nurturing the connection in memories and can be used to 'warm up' and give vitality to the present. Thus this paper contributes to our understanding of how people can creatively use different forms of temporal belonging to create a sense of a continuous self.

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Section: Self and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Belonging from afar: nostalgia, time and memory

May

2017

The Sociological Review

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“…Claus Toft-Nielsen stood in terms of temporality. Furthering our reading of technostalgia through Boym's framework, it is interesting that Morten's experience of playing on a private server is a kind of restorative nostalgia, one which succeeds in the attempt to recreate what has been lost or to return to a former situation (Bartholeyns, 2014). In opposition to this, Tue's "almost, but not quite" comment displays a nostalgic sentiment, which in turn is refl ective, in that it calls into doubt traditions relating to the individual or collective feeling of a bygone age that may now only be enjoyed by remembering it.…”

Section: Digital Games and The Technostalgia Feeling Of Blizzlikementioning

confidence: 99%

Going home again?

Toft-Nielsen¹

2019

MedieKultur

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Since its release in 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) has regularly changed the game and the play experience in signifi cant ways. Recently, Blizzard, the developer of WoW, announced the upcoming game WoW Classic: “an authentic, Blizzard-quality classic experience”. Drawing on interviews with adult WoW fans and gamers, the article examines the game as an ‘aff ective space’ (Hills, 2002) of fandom that cannot be separated from the fan narratives and experiences it mediates. A key component in this aff ective space is the notion of fan nostalgia. The nostalgic relationship between a fan and a favourite text is often imbued with an imagined history, conjoining aff ect and meaning, belief and knowledge, and making nostalgia “both a way of knowing worlds – and a discourse of knowledge” (Radstone, 2010, p. 188). The article traces diff erent and often contradictory modes of fan nostalgia connected to WoW, such as tactile feelings of technostalgia (Bolin, 2015), deeply personal and anchoring types of nostalgia in the form of totemic objects (Proctor, 2017), manifested through fan practices of collecting digital items and souvenirs (Geraghty, 2014), and interwoven with desirable and appropriate self-identity and self-narrative (Williams, 2014). In reading these modes of nostalgia, the article argues that they ultimately function as a sort of ‘homecoming’, as the gamers’ many different experiences of the game and media texts surrounding the game all come together as complex attempts of memory work, creating the possibility of establishing a home within their fandom.

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“…However, it has less commonly been studied as an individual, everyday experience. Some recent studies conceptualising nostalgia in this way have used it to understand, for example, biographical construction (Dickson & Erben, 2006), the loss of specific types of identities (Strangleman, ), collective cultural experiences and national identity (Byrne, ), and the experience of and desire for specific aesthetics in the form of photography (Bartholeyns, ). The concept has, however, also been used to conceptualise belonging to place in a way that has direct application for our study.…”

Section: The Concept Of Nostalgiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Formations of belonging inAustralia: The role of nostalgia in experiences of time and place

Cuervo

Cook

2018

Population Space and Place

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Although residential mobility has been studied at length, residential immobility has been addressed comparatively rarely. In this article, we draw on interviews conducted with 35 participants aged 38–39 in 2012 in Victoria, Australia, in which they were asked to reflect on their lives over the previous 20 years, focusing specifically on those who have remained in or returned to the areas in which they grew up. We focus on the role of nostalgia in the participants' experiences of and relationships with place, finding that far from signifying a purely, or even predominantly, melancholic experience their expressions of nostalgia held the power to enliven the present, even while anchoring them to the past. We contend that nostalgia can form an integral part of practices that reconcile continuity and change and produce feelings of familiarity and comfort, which buffer individuals against the uncertainties associated with wider contexts shaped by rapid social change.

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The Instant Past: Nostalgia and Digital Retro Photography

Cited by 32 publications

References 2 publications

Belonging from afar: nostalgia, time and memory

Belonging from afar: nostalgia, time and memory

Going home again?

Formations of belonging inAustralia: The role of nostalgia in experiences of time and place

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