(Be)longing; nostalgia and the construction of ideology

In How Societies Remember (1989), Paul Connerton writes that the present “distort[s]” the past, and vice-versa, in our collective memory” (2). These distortions can be instrumentalised by politicians seeking to mobilize people behind a nostalgic vision of the past. Conceiving of nostalgia as a “superimposition” of the past over the present, Svetlana Boym explores how it creates a multi-temporal memory-scape that one longs to recover – but which, paradoxically, has never and can never exist (The Future of Nostalgia, xiv). Similarly, Joseph Roach describes how societies seek replacements for figures from the past via a process he calls “surrogation,” which is virtually always doomed to fail (Cities of the Dead, 2). This futile cycle of longing for what is lost (or what never existed) fuels conservative and colonialist resentments and strengthens exclusionary political agendas.

This seminar interrogates the role of nostalgia in the construction of ideology. It examines how the longing for an imagined past creates in-groups and out-groups, wherein those who share the longing for the imagined past belong, while those who are critical or opposed are excluded. By rejecting nostalgia, we can productively subvert idealised pasts to fuel ideologies of liberation and anti-colonialism. For example, Dante Alighieri was a central figure in the creation of a national Italian cultural identity (Italianità) in the nineteenth century, considered by many the father of the Italian language and an object of pride for his literary achievements. Over time, Dante’s work has been cherry-picked by Italian fascist governments seeking to narrowly define their exclusively white, militaristic, colonialist national identity. However, among those oppressed and marginalised by this nostalgic vision, there are writers who also interpret Dante as a beacon of hope and humanity, as they recognize aspects of their own experiences of exclusion in his exilic condition. This suggests that we can engage critically with the past without “superimposing” it over the present, without weaponizing it in the construction of dangerous ideologies. 

This seminar invites contributions that explore nostalgia, the idealisation and surrogation of history, and the role of the past in shaping political ideology. We are especially interested in papers that critically examine the intersection of colonialist ideology and nostalgic pasts. Other topics could include:

Archival construction
Educational curricula and reform
Propagandistic language and literature
Nostalgia in popular culture
Collective memory/memorial/commemoration
Political exile and the impossibility of return
Political/social theatricality and performance
Recovery and rebuilding in a (post)colonial world
Affect theory

For any questions about the seminar, please contact the organizers Hannah Link ([email protected]), Brittany Buscio ([email protected]), and Aliyah Alsaber ([email protected]).