On Nostalgia

"Nostalgia" was first coined in 1688 for Swiss soldiers who were homesick. Its meaning has changed somewhat and now it often signifies the longing for something that possibly never was, rather than for a place. The current craze for nostalgia can be charming and innocuous (ex. Stranger Things, the remake of, well, nearly every movie from the 80s), but it can also take a sinister turn when used for political manoeuvring (“Make America Great Again”). It behooves us all to understand what nostalgia is, where it comes from, and how we might guard against it. Berry argues that nostalgia has become both homogenized and consumerist: instead of us thinking about people or places, nostalgia has become rooted in objects that signify those things, making it easier to sell us replicas of culture-wide objects from the past.