Before one can ask the questions what counts as nostalgia and what can evoke it we must acknowledge the debate surrounding its status as an emotion, a form of memory and its historical definition as a clinical psychological aliment or whether it escapes classification altogether (Sprengler : ). The nature of nostalgia is ineffable but interesting it is clearly evoked and identified in visual forms such as fashion photography, film and other related photo media. Nostalgia is often characterized by sentimental nuances that an audience will recognize. These sentiments do vary and are shaped by the individuals’ cultural framework, geographical location and personal experience. This section traces the historical discourse of nostalgia as it helps demonstrate how we have come to witness the continuing appeal of nostalgia and its rise to commodification. This nostalgia economy determines its current dominant strain in contemporary culture.
When historically locating the definition of nostalgia, earliest records show that it was identified in Johannes Hofer’s dissertation written in 1688. The Swiss physician named a ‘disease’ that he observed in Swiss soldiers serving abroad (1934:381) the origin of his definition references the Greek words nostos – a return home and algos – denoting a painful condition (cited Sprengler: 11) he describes the ‘sad mood’ originating form a ‘desire to return to ones native land’ (1934:381) In other words these men were experiencing homesickness, the sad mood he describes was generated by a feeling of missing. In hard times one experiences a natural inclination to return to a place or time of normality and comfort.
In retrospect Holfer might have demonstrated a sympathetic attitude toward the soldiers but he failed to see what modern medicine recognizes today as psychological conditions such as depression, not disease. These mental conditions and general low moral amongst the troops was more likely a symptom of environmental factors; inadequate pay, poor medical facilities and services. Thus leaving many soldiers feeling abandoned and anxious on the front line where they were subject to injury, disease and death. These men had a collective experience of nostalgia. There homesickness, absentmindedness and hysteria was fueled by a longing desire to return home. Home in this case is the specific place and symbol that becomes embedded with significant meaning for the individual. The meaning of the object, time or place desired changes profoundly when the soilder conjures in his mind a memory based on personal experience and history. These memories may be pleasant and in a way escapist but the feeling is short lived as he desires an irretrievable idea, making it ever more desirable. Casey (1987:372-75) and Starobinski (1966:93) are two theorists who support this claim by discussing fixation and regression, these characteristics share with nostalgia the attempt to return to a place of origin and the inability of recollection alone to facilitate this return.
Changing perceptions of nostalgia have been suggested by Brandt (1978:60). Nostalgia was ‘felt’ in the 19th century with the occurrence of urbanization. The movement of people from small rural communities into cities saw a change in the way of life. This change came with the adoption of new technologies, pace and communication changed forever. Cities were perceived as more frenetic and impersonal places. This ascending of time and growth was celebrated by modernists but at the same time it became a significant trigger for nostalgia. This experience of nostalgia was more than just a response in the form of anxieties caused by a deep dissatisfaction with the time and place occupied in the present. There was a loss of collective past and way of life due to the changing times, and although it did not cause physical illness it did generated a heavy feeling of ‘loss and longing that could not be purely classified as cerebral’. (cited Sprengler :15)
Previous studies of nostalgia of the 1940s - 1950s continued to situate its definition within the clinical landscape of psychiatry and military medicine (McCann 1943: Ruml 1946; Foden 1950). Fred Davies also claimed that ‘nostalgia did not enter popular speech outside of a military realm until the 1950s, this suggests the nostalgic concept today is a relatively young and has generated new perspectives and discourse in the last half of the century. For example nostalgias political usefulness was instrumental in triggering several key perceptual shifts. Ideology not geography now determines its force, which in turn generated a shift. The view of nostalgia changed from viewing nostalgia as a mental aliment to thinking about nostalgia as an appropriate response where there was an absence of the ideal, commonly associated with the esteemed homeland. (Starobinski 1966:99). This shift has also seen nostalgia utilized in advertising and propaganda whereby tradition is upheld. It also has been used strategically by politicians to capture an audience who looks to the past as ‘better times’, this shows a weak argument suggesting ways to attain stability, whereby there is ‘proof’ of positive policy that previously existed in a different time. This ideological view of the past is a traditionalist approach and retrospectively been criticized for being repressive, manipulative and in turn prohibits the normal succession of progress, exploration and debate.
