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[nostalgiacolloquium]

People are finding mad examples of Jar Jar doing the Jedi Mind Trick and I’m so mad

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Passion and Nostalgia in Generational Media Experiences

Summary:

In Goran Bolin’s essay, “Passion and Nostalgia in Generational Media Experiences”, he discusses three distinct modes of reflexive nostalgia found in a study examining the relationship between generational differences and nostalgia. First, Bolin argues that the formative years (generally speaking, from about the age of seventeen to twenty-five) “are crucial in forming the generational experiences.” He cites Karl Mannheim’s analogy of language to nostalgia: in the same way that dialect stops developing much beyond the formative years but continues to shape how we experience the world throughout the rest of our lives, firsthand experiences during these years shape and give meaning to how we filter the world later on in life. Research also shows that people tend to have more vivid memories from this part of life than any other, which fits in with Bolin’s idea of nostalgia in the formative years.

The study Bolin discusses took place in Sweden and Estonia in 2012, wherein the subjects were chosen and sorted into four separate focus groups based off of age and media landscapes of their youth. The groups spanned from people born in the 1940’s (the “postwar” generation) all the way up to people born in the early 1990’s, with a set criterion for every group (for example, no member of the 1990’s group had had children, and all were studying in some sort of academic setting). Bolin brings up the point of “phantom pain” here, pondering whether or not a person can be nostalgic for something they never experienced, and concludes that this is not true nostalgia but “nostalgic envy.”

It was from the findings in these focus groups that Bolin constructs his modes of nostalgia, although he admits that these three hardly encompass all forms of nostalgia and with further research into the field, we will discover more). The first mode is called “technostalgia.” This mode means that the nostalgia has a focus on a material piece of technology and how it was used rather than on the content of the technology. This kind of nostalgia facilitates social interaction, as it provokes questions such as “Do you remember…?” Over time and as technology progresses, older forms and mediums through which we receive media fall out of mainstream use and disappear. Technostalgia usually includes a longing for a certain sound or image of this old technology, because the medium is connected to and associated with an emotional state for the individual. The important point here is that this nostalgia is not for just any one type of item, but rather for a very specific copy of a specific item. Technostalgia can also be about the “labour investment,” or the work it takes to acquire this item (like the effort it takes to make a mixtape used to be much more difficult, and therefore holds more cultural value). This mode of nostalgia tends to be more positive and focused on cherished memories, and has the possibility of being re-enacted.

The second mode is “nostalgia as loss of childhood.” This type can occur in any generation and is directed more on content than on medium. It is highly individual and usually didn’t begin much large group discussion in the study. The content an individual is nostalgic for is related more to childhood than to a media experience. Bolin states that it’s not necessarily about what actually happened, but more about an idealized memory of what happened.

The third mode is “nostalgia as the (im)possibility of intergenerational experience. This comes from a generation gap and the idea that other generations (especially youth) will never be able to understand or appreciate an experience, and usually happens when one’s children are nearing the end of their formative years. “It both binds together those who have made the same experiences in the past, and it also binds the generation together in the present through the shared feeling of loss. It becomes a specific generational value that ties people who appreciate this value together.”

Bolin concludes that these last two forms are more profound and painful to experience than technostalgia as these memories have no chance of being revived or remedied.

 Analysis:

           The biggest and perhaps the most important part of this paper to me was the categorization of the three different modes of nostalgia, because having distinct and separate criteria for each type facilitated my understanding of the definition of nostalgia, and the way Bolin tied these ideas together with media forms and consumption furthered my capacity to relate to and understand these somewhat difficult concepts.

           Beyond that, I also found the concept of “formative years” to be the most interesting (perhaps because it is the only generational group in which I could belong). The relation of language and memory formation in our formative years (roughly ages 17-25) to how we experience the rest of life is very interesting and well-supported here, with references to Mannheim’s analogy. It intrigued me that a person’s nostalgia most often originates from events and memories of these years, and that nostalgia for these years can and does resurface as one’s children reach adulthood and independence.

           I think that one thing this essay could’ve expanded on was the topic of technology itself, and the idea of passion (which was briefly mentioned and tied to both positive thinking and pain). Because of this, I think the article is poorly named, as the focus is more about nostalgia in different age groups today than on passion and nostalgia surrounding technology specifically.

           Another problem is that the study the article uses to support most if its ideas took place with a very small group of people with similar backgrounds in a relatively small geographic area, and then is being used to generalize all populations. For example, all the people included in the 1990’s generational focus group were in school at the time the study took place. In particular, and this is noted in the essay, the subjects used in this study had very different interactions with media in both form and content from those around the globe, and therefore the findings here cannot necessarily be applied to all people or generations and their media consumption.

           I enjoyed that Bolin did more than just state these different modes, he also talked about the capacity for each type of nostalgia to be treated. I think the fact that technostaglia has the potential to be remedied whereas the other two do not is an important distinction and offers insight into the history of how people have perceived nostalgia as an illness. It also lends clarification to the question of whether or not nostalgia should be perceived as a positive or negative occurrence, because the experience is vastly different depending on which mode it belongs to.

           Although I found this article very interesting and insightful, I think it offers speculation more than it does evidence because of the limiting variables of the study. Bolin could incorporate more substantial examples and studies to add merit to his claims. In short, his essay is a bit on the short side considering all the information packed into it. Regardless, his ideas and thoughts have a lot to offer those interested in studying the experience of nostalgia.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Nostalgia as a Tool for the Future

In the article by Alexander V. Zinchenko, Nostalgia, he writes about the dialogue between memory and knowing.  In abstract, it describes Nostalgia in a dark light mostly conveying it as a problem that includes symptoms.  Although, he concludes it is a necessity in a sense, to recreate the flow with the past.

The quote he cites at the beginning of the article is a great definition of what I believe nostalgia to be. He cited Salman Rushdie, who wrote in Imaginary Homelands in 1991, “my subject changed, was no longer a search for lost time, had become the way we remake the past to suit our present purposes, using memory as a tool.”

Zinchenko studies the psychological process of involuntary memory, and showed that the process of memorization cannot be understood outside of the subject’s reality. This is because memory is important with the development of one’s personality formation so memory plays an important role in the formation of thinking and consciousness. Zinchenko says that memory is the “creation of experience.”

In Zinchenko’s research, he travels to many places around the globe to try to reconstruct his definition of nostalgia with those that have grown up with different, more hardships lives. While most people know nostalgia to be the longing for the past, he found that many of these immigrants were similar to the Swiss people we studied about in class, such that they were experiencing nostalgia as “malignant and disruptive of one’s well-being.” Zinchenko even cites Johann Hofer’s research about the persistent thinking of home and feeling a sense of discontinuity that causes physical symptoms within one’s self.

Many of the immigrants and refugee’s that Zinchenko writes about experience these ill feelings and pains and some of the symptoms include: loneliness, loss of interests and ambitions, hopelessness, fainting, illusions, and hallucinations, just to name a few. Zinchenko goes on to further define this sense of “home” that Hofer originally talked about.  Home can be the literal geographical location that one associates itself with, but it also can be anything that ties one to a sense of belonging such as culture, language, the people around you, and various elements of familiarity such as objects, music, and customs.  He says that it is a necessary stage of self-preservation and actually helps to conform to new realities that one might enter.

Zinchenko goes on to examine the deconstruction of the Soviet Union and how it’s role of nostalgia plays in part with his research.  He finds that many of the Russian-speaking communities in San Francisco during the beginning of the 1990’s reported high levels of severe psychotic and dissociative symptoms that Hofer and Zinchenko reported earlier.  Many of these people migrated to a better life per se, but had a sense of discontinuity in their lives that caused confusion and lost points of reference in their lives. Thus many of them had nostalgic feelings for the longing of the Soviet Union, and once that broke-up and diminished, they could not move forward in since they were trying to find the road of continuity.

One thing that I found very interesting that Zinchenko wrote about, was his analogy to a teddy bear that mother gives a child.  He compares these nostalgic feelings of the past as the teddy bear that is used in replace of the mothers comfort. Children developing are constantly constructing their environments and sense of self through these environments as they are growing so they have a place that they belong.  One of the earliest objects of an established environment is the sense of security and recognition of one’s mother.  When a mother cannot be around, a teddy bear acts as blanket for the sense of security and belongingness to the child.  Although, a teddy bear is not the real thing and cannot provide the same benefits as a mother, it still provides a comfort for the replacement of being alone.

I think this helps to accurately relate why we have nostalgic feelings for the past.  We know that they are not the past, but they provide comfort in bringing us back to when we felt security.  In a sense they can actually help us move forward as opposed to if we did not have them at all.

I also find that the memory isn’t just a tool to “remember things” fascinating.  Zinchenko proposes that it actually relates to the creation of new memories.  This goes to show that nostalgia isn’t just about the past – it is about the present and future as well.  It is something we can string ourselves back to when we are trying to move forward. To me, it is almost a figurative chain that we are using to reach our destination.  We cannot move forward unless we add new chains to our link. But if we lose any of the past chains, we cannot move forward either since our link will be broken.

Zinchenko, Alexander V. "Nostalgia." Academic Search Complete. Russian Social Science Review, Jan.-Feb. 2012.

Alex Wasinger

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Oryx and Crake and the New Nostalgia for Meat

In the heavily philosophical article, “Oryx and Crake and the New Nostalgia for Meat”, author Jovian Parry attempts to translate our postmodern nostalgia for meat and preindustrial animal slaughter through his analysis of what Oryx and Crake author, Margaret Atwood, calls a “speculative fiction” in which meat becomes an increasingly rare commodity.

To lay the foundation for his article, Parry begins with the introduction of a popular theory that was developed to explain why we continue to consume meat despite food scares such as the spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephaly during the mid -1990s in Britain. This theory highlights our detachment from the source of meat products. Essentially, this theory believes that in societies where meat consumption is particularly prestigious, our inability to conceptually distinguish between animal and animal meat due to the heavy industrialization involved keeps meat palatable and the risks of eating meat less recognizable.

However, in recent years, new gastronomic trends are arising that challenge this theory’s understanding of meat and its prestigious standing in certain human cultures. On a separate pole within the same realm of thinking, Parry introduces the argument that it’s not distance that makes meat palatable, but rather intimacy. Parry acknowledges a trending theme in food -focused documentaries such as Animal: Friend or Food? and Power Steer that communicates the idea that having a relationship with an animal through traditional animal husbandry and slaughter creates an authentic meat eating experience that is more spiritually enriching than through the consumption of pre-packaged varieties.

Parry uses Oryx and Crake to explore some of society’s views on meat and “meat animals.” Within the novel, the idea of meat’s “naturalness” is what makes it so desirable. Against the dreary background of a world enraptured in dystopian levels of capitalistic consumerism, having access to some form of food product that could have its origins traced back to an identifiable creature creates a nostalgia among the people in the book.

In the world of Oryx and Crake, “real” meat is imbued with a value that far extends its nutritional potential. It’s quickly understood that “real” meat is reserved for members of high society; those who can afford it and have lived a life that has not desensitized their palates with soy and laboratory grown alternatives. The idea of “real” meat and the connection to a bygone time is where Parry draws the parallel between our world and the one in the novel. When it comes to the meat itself the definition of “real” is multilayered; developed with notions of what is and is not traditionally associated with animal husbandry and slaughter.

To conclude, Parry addresses the flexibility of what can be viewed as traditional when it comes to animal consumption, as this is what produces the new nostalgia for meat that’s developed in the last few years. He examines the grittiness of “kill your meat” texts and documentaries and how through the intimacy experienced with the animals involved one can explore where cruelness begins and mercy ends creating, what some may argue, is a more human experience than resorting to vegetarianism.

 As someone who has extensively explored their relationship with food, I found this article incredibly fascinating. In my junior year of high school I decided to eliminate all animal flesh from my diet in 1) an assertion of independence 2) a statement on the ethical treatment of industrially raised livestock and 3) to test the endurance of my commitment to a lifestyle change that could become applicable in other areas of my life later on.

Even though I’m a committed vegetarian and believe everyone should give the lifestyle a try at least once in their lives, it was easy to detect the heavy biased undertones to the writing of this piece. The author, Jovian Parry, stresses throughout his commentary on the textual and documentary explorations of killing one’s own meat, that they are making attempts to valorize our intrinsic primal, savage relationship with nature and animals.

I feel this wording has a negative lean however, discussing the growing popularity of raising, slaughtering, and butchering one’s own meat in text and through documentary film is important in understanding meat as a nostalgic commodity. Meat is described as being multilayered in the article. I believe its complexity arises from the intensive multi-stepped process involved with obtaining the meat, so in the end it’s not the meat itself that we are nostalgic for but rather the process and surrounding world that made the process possible that people miss so much. The “bittersweetness” we’ve discussed as defining the feeling of nostalgia fits perfectly within the discussion of meat because the bitter, the inevitable loss of conscious life, seems to be far outweighed by the sweet, the exploration of cruelty and mercy that strengthens people’s humanity.

The growing popularity of intimate animal husbandry in text and on TV is also a great real- world example of what restorative nostalgia looks like in action. Providing the instruction, visualization, and encouragement to slaughter and butcher one’s own animals embodies what restorative nostalgia is all about, recreating a bygone era. There is a reason industrialized meat is at the state it is now, because logistically and realistically it’s the only way to fully appease the supply and demand of the growing population and their demand for meat. The fault in restorative nostalgia is the inability to acknowledge the limits and knowledge of the current time; in regard to meat, I believe the same fault applies.

I also think this is why the use of Oryx and Crake was so helpful. At their point in time, simply consuming an actual animal was participating in a nostalgic action of the past. Rearing and slaughtering one’s own animal was hardly considered possible. This, perhaps, is why Parry allowed his bias to be fully exposed in his word choice. Margaret Atwood described her own novel as a “speculative fiction” rather than a dystopian piece because we could be on track to unsustainability in the meat industry and our experience of nostalgia in regard to meat could continue to evolve with the rest of our world.

Parry, J. (2009). Oryx and Crake and the New Nostalgia for Meat. Society & Animals, 17(3), 241-256. doi:10.1163/156853009x445406

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Back to the Future: Nostalgia Increases Optimism

Emma Lindemeier

Summary

 This 2013 research article was written by Wing-Yee Cheung, Tim Wildschut, Constantine Sedikides, Erica G Hepper, Jamie Arndt, and Ad J.J. M. Vingerhoets.  The article begins by describing the historical aspect of nostalgia. Originally, nostalgia was thought to be a neurological disease, and later a psychological disorder.  It wasn’t until 1977 that nostalgia was suggested as helping with an optimistic outlook on life.  

 With the understanding of nostalgia being a more positive experience, the authors aimed to connect nostalgia and optimism.  They attempted to do this through four studies.  The first study, tested to see if nostalgia and optimism are connected naturally.  This was done by assigning participants to either a nostalgic or control condition. In the first condition, the participants were told to think of a nostalgic experience and write about it. The control condition was told to think about an ordinary event in their life and write about it.  At the end, the participants had to complete a nostalgia manipulation check.

The second study tried to find the impact of nostalgia on optimism by evoking nostalgia experimentally. Participants were assigned to a nostalgic or control condition.  In the nostalgic condition, nostalgia was induced by remembrance of nostalgic events. The control condition was given ordinary autobiographical events instead.  After this, the participants completed a nostalgia manipulation check.

 The purpose of the third study was to create convergent validity and used listening to music to elicit nostalgia, rather than the written accounts used with the first and second studies.  Participants were assigned to either a nostalgic or control condition.  Those assigned to the nostalgic condition, listened to music that was determined to be nostalgic.  The control condition listened to music that was determined to be neutral, in terms of nostalgia.  Then the extent to which the individuals felt nostalgic was measured.

 The fourth study continued to advance the convergent validity of the studies by using music once again, but this time the participants were only given the lyrics to a song.  The nostalgic condition was given the lyrics to a song determined to be nostalgic, while the control group received the lyrics to a neutral song.  The extent of nostalgic feelings was then measured in participants.

 The results of the first study indicated that optimism is included with nostalgic narratives.  The second study found experimentally evoking nostalgia also includes optimism.  The third study found that those who listened to the nostalgic song also reported higher rates of optimism than those who listened to the control song. The results of the fourth study showed that those who read nostalgic song lyrics reported higher levels of optimism.

 The authors also talked about the potential health benefits of nostalgia, if it is connected to optimism. According to the article, optimism offers some health benefits.  Therefore, if nostalgia and optimism are connected then nostalgia can be used to promote healthy behaviors.

 Analysis

 As with all studies, I think it is important to analyze the methods used within the study to ensure that the experiments were conducted in a scientific manner.  College students were the primary participants for these studies.  In some of the studies, the participants had been required to participate in the study for a class.  Requiring students to participate could have affected their data, because some may have completed the study with not the best of intentions.  There was also a skew between the genders, with women being more prevalent than men.  I think all of these factors could have played into the reliability of the study. However, I don’t think that the entire article is unreliable.

 The authors did note that the studies had been conducted in three different countries.  This could provide more reliability to the studies, showing that they received the same results from different countries.   It was also important that different methods were used to evoke nostalgia to study whether it is connected to optimism.  Each study built off of the other and used slightly different methods to prove that optimism and nostalgia are connected.  The studies all supported each other, showing that the results for each of the individual studies were most likely reliable. In addition, the authors all reported that they had no conflicting interests of financial support for their research.  This indicates that the authors were not pushed into proving that their hypothesis was correct.

 Overall, I think that the studies conducted in the article, at the least, can provide some foundation to the question of the connection between optimism and nostalgia.  Some of the methods used in the studies could be questioned, however, I think it is important to note that the authors did address some of the problems with these studies in their article.  According to the authors, they didn’t think that these factors would play a significant role or that other studies had already proven it did not play a significant role.  In my opinion, this shows that the authors are not trying to hide or manipulate anything. I think that the results of the study could be used as preliminary research in discovering more about the connection between nostalgia and optimism.  

 It is also important to note that if nostalgia and optimism are connected, nostalgia could be used as a tool to help people have a more positive outlook on life.  Personally, I know that nostalgia has helped me through some difficult times, especially in college.  Every single time I feel sad, lonely, or too stressed I pull out a scrapbook and reflect on the good times in my life.  It almost always changes my mood and I begin to feel much happier. Perhaps this is my personal way of promoting of optimism through nostalgia.  I know that between the pictures there were some rough times, but it always got better.  It helps me to know that things will get better and that I can work my way through any situation I am faced with.  I can see that nostalgia and optimism are personally connected for myself, but I also think that this article provides more solid evidence that the two are connected. 

Cheung, W. Y., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Hepper, E. G., Arndt, J., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2013). Back to the future: Nostalgia increases optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1484-1496.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

On Kitsch, Nostalgia, and Nineties Femininity

On Kitsch, Nostalgia, and Nineties Femininity by Stephanie Brown

In Stephanie Brown’s article, the relationship between kitsch and nostalgia is explored and how it relates to the female identity. Utilizing various scholarly definitions, Brown is able to compile a more direct explanation for the kitsch phenomena. One theory presented by a group of critics was the idea of the “kitsch-man” who subconsciously responds to aesthetics by parodying them. They used the Grand Canyon and its “greatness” to demonstrate how kitsch is exclusively originated in America and is then spread globally. However, the author points out that kitsch exists internationally because of the class system. The taste of the aristocracy is deemed as good taste and all other art that exists in lower society is viewed as mimicking the high class. Even when the rich have “bad taste”, there is positive association. In terms of American taste, it historically aligns with their European counterparts. Americans who want to appropriate European culture are forced to purchase art overseas in order to replicate it at home. The act of cultural appropriation, then, can be viewed as a form of kitschiness. Umberto Eco, an Italian scholar, defined this sharing of cultural aesthetics as “incontinent collectionism” where no care is given to the original or the duplicate.

Another important point that Stephanie Brown presented was that kitsch must be mass-produced. This does not mean that items have to be cheap or not artisan but that the defining quality is that it cannot be unique. In many cases, there is also an over-ornamentation that is oftentimes unnecessary. Critics call refers to this as “defacement” and ruins the quality of the art. Brown argued that the value of the object is not determined by the level of beauty but rather its meaning. She continues on to suggest that kitsch objects have the sole objective to evoke specific emotions or memories specific to individual experiences. A bar of soap from Graceland was presented to demonstrate how nostalgia is promoted through kitsch items. The owner of the soap does not feel attachment to the physicality of the object but rather the memories tied with Elvis and his music. Nostalgia creates narrative in kitsch objects.

This leads to her next qualification: kitsch gives some form of pleasure. The pleasure that kitsch brings is contextual and based on a large spectrum. In addition, the sole purpose of kitsch objects is to spark desire to own not only the physical item itself but also what is represented. A desire to display the objects to conform to a social standard is also an crucial component to the market success of “retro” products. These objects, albeit not actually from the era emulated, are crafted in order to capture the attitudes of that time period and inject it into modern day society. Ownership of kitsch items favor aesthetic over practicalness.

In the latter half of her article, Stephanie Brown applies the same principles of kitschifying inanimate objects to the beautification of women. Much like kitsch, femininity is mass-produced through the cosmetic industry where women paint their faces much like a pattern on a vase. Beautifying oneself has no practical purpose; makeup serves no improvement to one’s life. It is purely artistic. She cites Judith Butler’s theory found in Gender Trouble, which introduces the notion that gender is a performance by separating it from the biological sex. The actual, raw object is not seen, but instead the outward display of archetypal behavior. Brown specifically states that kitsch is applicable to femininity and not masculinity. Masculinity have an inherent privileged position in society. Because their position is already known, there is no need to prove their status. Femininity, meanwhile, has consistently been subject to transformative measures to prove one’s place. They must mask their true identity in order to be accepted. Although every appearances are vastly varied, the commodification of women to have painted on faces strips individuality, much like mass-produced products. Cosmetic beauty is also designed to garner attention and sell themselves to other human beings. The desire associated with femininity supports Brown’s qualification for kitschiness. Feminine beauty has also become a domestic act performed every morning, inciting a desire for ownership by masculine counterparts.

Courtney Love, the lead singer of grunge band Hole and Kurt Cobain’s widow, is presented as an example of how kitsch is implemented into feminine identity. Her onstage identity is juxtaposed by her revealing, lace dresses (feminine) that are torn and often stained (rebellion). Her sloppily-applied red lips crooned lyrics in a little girl voice and swiftly rappelled into deafening screams. The differences in her behavior were an obvious parody but as time wore on the lines became much more blurred. As her career grew, her commentary on the subjection of the feminine identity grew more grotesque. The album art of Live Through This displays a decapitated doll that is meant to represent the absence of self-beautification in a woman’s life. The nostalgic desire to go to a time (which may have not existed in a civilized world) where women were not forced to hide behind a false identity. But, the use of a doll is a reminder that women’s bodies will always be used as objects with interchangeable parts that can be altered at will. The mid-90s Courtney was much different than her grunge past. Appearing in fashion magazines, such as Vanity Fair and Marie Claire, her identity slowly shifted to a more generic version of herself. Love’s appearance began to blend with all of the other female celebrities, her ultra dark self starting to fade away. Kitsch can be found in this transformation by the adornment of her true self to reduce her individuality and mass-produce another typical celebrity. The author claims that Courtney’s ever-evolving persona serves as a critique of “post-feminism” trends that claim to be revolutionary. It is using memory into a commodity, just another disposable parody of itself.

I found this article extremely interesting in regards to how kitsch can be attributed to the objectification of women and feminine traits. At the mention of kitsch, a very specific group of images pop into my head. Kitsch, to me, as always been connected to tacky tinker toys that alludes to a past time, specifically the 50s. It makes sense to make the connection between kitsch and nostalgia due to the imagery of past decades. People do not buy kitschy items because of they look attractive but rather for the dated aesthetic that reminds them of a past time. Memories associated with yesteryears’ decor are also extremely potent because of their specific appearance. For example, whenever I see a Dickens village I am immediately reminded of my grandma’s house at Christmas time.

Once the article delved into feminist theory and the feminine identity, modern day interactions I see start to support the idea of kitschification of women. On social media sites, such as Twitter, photos of girls with and without makeup are used to accuse all women of lying. Makeup and self-interested adornment is viewed as dishonest and condemned. Therein lies a double-standard between the masculine and feminine. When women dress up for men, it is accepted and expected. But when a woman dresses up for herself to boost her confidence, it is swiftly shot done and twisted into vanity. Through the idea of kitsch, we can identify how it can promote a sexist standard. I believe that kitsch can be extremely harmful to not only women, but all those who identify on the femme spectrum. Because if one person isn't conforming with society’s norms, it should not be ridiculed but celebrated for their differences.

Works Cited

Brown, Stephanie. “On Kitsch, Nostalgia, and Nineties Femininity.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 22, no. 3, 2000, pp. 39–54. www.jstor.org/stable/23414521.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

The Power of Reflection - edf

http://www.jstor.org.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/stable/pdf/4189264.pdf

Muehling and Sprott review an empirical examination of nostalgia advertising effects in their 2004 article. The article begins by explaining what nostalgia is in both an historical and modern context (some things we already know), and how nostalgia is beginning to be used in advertisements for greater effect on consumers. 

The authors go on to discuss the research that has been done in the field of marketing and advertising that directly relate to the use of nostalgia, and they set up their hypothesis and review of the study conducted. The next several pages are full of charts and graphs and study data that I looked at but retained almost nothing from. 

Basically, Muehling and Sprott found that “advertisements encouraging retrieval of autobiographical memories evoke more thoughts about those experiences...and fewer thoughts about the advertised product’s features than advertisements not encouraging such memory retrieval.” 

Given that the article is written for the Journal of Advertising, Muehling and Sprott note that some advertisers might want to be wary of a few things. If the consumer is thinking more about the cookies they used to eat at grandma’s than about the commercial for the Oreos they just watched, it might lead them to bake their own cookies instead of going out to buy Oreos, completely defeating the purpose of the commercial. Additionally, “thoughts evoked by nostalgic advertisements are not always positive. In particular, the nostalgic advertisement generated significantly more positive and negative thoughts than the non-nostalgic ad. This finding corresponds with the view of nostalgia as a bittersweet emotion,” something else that we already know. 

In the end, Muehling and Sprott close with an observation about what they think would work best for hitting a nostalgic tone precisely, stating that “Consumers have strong preferences for aesthetic products (such as movies and music) associated with their youth (preferring products that existed at the time when consumers were in their early to mid-twenties).” Because of this, they also caution against the use of “personal nostalgia,” instead insisting that “historical nostalgia” would better benefit the marketer. Trying to recreate someone’s youth is dangerous: small details can be missed that won’t mesh with the viewer’s memory, creating a less favorable view of the product; but a pop-culture icon or reference that can be shared by many creates a less personal feeling of nostalgia and a more communal sense that’s much easier to exploit.

Using nostalgia in marketing has increased steadily over the years, and it’s become terribly obvious. Classic Coca-Cola came to be because of a snafu with “New Coke” and Pepsi, but the red logo and “Classic” branding were a chance to play with the thoughts and emotions of the consumer. Now we have everything from throwback sodas and potato chips to a revitalization of classic children’s games in the form of apps.

A desire to return to the good old days has always been perceived goal of generations older than our own, but in the last few years has become our desire, too. However, what constitutes the good old days is obviously different for everyone. 

Political campaigns have an awful lot in common with ad campaigns, essentially branding the politician at the center of the campaign as a product. There are posters, recognizable logos, slogans and catchphrases, all centered around the candidate.

The President knows an awful lot about personal branding (the man literally wrote a book on it) and did so during his entire campaign. Make America Great Again - the chosen slogan for greatness - has many confused about A) when this country wasn’t great and B) what exactly “greatness” means for marginalized groups that may have only recently gained legal and social rights. But at its core, MAGA is about nostalgia. It’s right there, in the last letter: “Again.” Images of white suburbs and shopping malls, of “Leave it to Beaver” and “I Love Lucy,” of drive-in movie theaters and restaurants litter the mind when hearing “Make America Great Again.” But MAGA is so perfectly an example of the pitfalls of nostalgia: it excludes a large majority of the population is supposedly intending to include, it ignores and airbrushes the past in favor of non-marginalized groups, and it limits any ability for progress. 

A return to the good old days for MAGA is a return to a time of (often not-so) subtle oppression for many and a restriction of progress. It’s nostalgia about all the wrong things. 

There is a slew of analysis I want to get into, and will certainly include later, but for the sake of briefness (and also getting this in in a timely fashion), I’ll stop here. 

There’s an entire branding and spokesperson shift that can be covered, how we expect our products to be branded vs. the way our parents expected products to be branded, and I’d love input both from y’all and from your parents when I include it later. 

-- Emma Flynn

[nostalgiacolloquium]

The Value of Historical Nostalgia for Marketing Management

This article was written by Ian Phau and Christopher Marchegiani and was published in the Marketing and Intelligence Planning journal in 2011. This article was about the research done to see how historical nostalgia impacted marketing. The main goal of the study was to see how historical nostalgia in marketing/advertising would impact a consumer’s 1) attitude towards the advertisement, 2) attitude towards the brand, and 3) their purchase intention.

There were two main hypothesis for this research study and each had subcomponents. The first hypothesis dealt with the changes associated with increased amounts of historical nostalgia. The researchers predicted that as the amount of nostalgia increased, there would be an increase in overall number of thoughts, in the number of historical nostalgia related thoughts, and in the ratio of historical nostalgia related thoughts to total thoughts. They also predicted to see no change in the number of personal nostalgia related thoughts and a decrease in the amount of brand thoughts, a decrease in the amount of ad-execution thoughts, and more positive thoughts overall. The second hypothesis was simpler; it stated that as historical nostalgia increased, there would be a positive increase in the attitude towards the advertisement, the attitude towards the brand, and the intention to buy from that brand.

The authors distinguished personal nostalgia (a personally remembered past) and historical nostalgia (a time in history before one was born) and stated that they would be focusing on historical nostalgia specifically. They conducted a study with 292 participants ages 18-29 years old. Participants were chosen for this study based on if they scored higher in historical nostalgia rather than personal nostalgia during preliminary testing. They were then split into low, moderate, and high historical nostalgia groups in order for the researchers to observe the differences among different levels of historical nostalgia.

Study participants were exposed to nostalgic cues in advertisements for the brand Kodak; these cues included historical incidents, romance, idealized characters, etc.. As they watched the advertisement, and after, participants wrote down their thoughts with only one thought per line. These were then analyzed by trained judges of cognition who were blind as to which groups had which level of historical nostalgia.

The results of this study concluded that historical nostalgia does have a positive impact on consumer attitudes. However, they were wrong in a few areas of their hypothesis and some conclusions have qualifiers. The research showed that the overall amount of thoughts did not increase, and the amount of historical nostalgia related thoughts only increased from low to medium or low to high (but not from medium to high). The ratio of normal thoughts to nostalgic thoughts was similar in that there was no significant change from medium to high levels of historical nostalgia. The researchers were correct that there was no change in the amount of personal nostalgic thoughts when exposed to historical nostalgia. They were incorrect about the decrease in the number of brand thoughts and ad-execution thoughts. Finally, for hypothesis one, they were partially correct in regard to the positive thoughts overall.

As for hypothesis two, it was found that the amount of historical nostalgia experienced does impact the consumer’s attitudes toward the advertisement, brand, and their intention to purchase. However, it was found that there needs to be at least a moderate level of historical nostalgia present in order to see significant results but there is little change between moderate and high levels.  

I chose to look into the relationship between nostalgia and marketing because marketing is a basic business principle, and business administration is my major. I was intrigued by the slight in class discussion of it and how the two interacted in the past.

This article was very detailed and clear about the study (everything the researchers did and how they did it). It was a refreshing change from the Routledge book because they showed when a part of their hypothesis was incorrect. It was interesting that they had very few things they were totally incorrect about, but rather had data that partially supported the hypothesis. To me, this showed that they had a fairly good idea of what the existing relationship was and were testing to confirm these thoughts in order to create the best marketing strategy possible.

The concepts of personal nostalgia and historical nostalgia relate to reflective and restorative nostalgia in a way. They relate because both personal and reflective nostalgia are more so for one’s own memories and experiences; whereas, historical and restorative nostalgia are often for times one did not live through but that have an idealistic quality to them.

I was slightly nervous about the validity of this study when I read that they only tested the 18-26 year old age group. However, as we read and discussed in class, this age group is perfect for nostalgia because they experience so much change. In the article, the researchers also defended this choice by stating that they wanted a homogenous sample because they were testing for historic nostalgia, therefore, they needed the participants to have ‘missed out’ and the same decades or big historic moments so the researchers could utilize them in their study.

The findings of this study were somewhat surprising to me because they were testing with historic nostalgia. I knew that marketing and nostalgia had a relationship but I had thought it was more so with reflective or personal nostalgia. It was also interesting to read about what specifically this nostalgia impacts (the researchers’ three main points). The most fascinating finding that kept coming up was that there was no significant difference found between the groups exposed to moderate levels of nostalgia versus those exposed to high levels. The authors used the term “saturation point” to describe this concept. This is very useful for marketers because they do not have to work as hard in creating nostalgic advertisements, they only need a moderate level in order to achieve the desired effect.

Overall, this article showed the unique relationship between historic nostalgia and the impact it has on marketing/advertising. The study seemed to be well planned and well executed, therefore, offering trustworthy results. Marketing and nostalgia are sure to continue their relationship for a very long time as more and more studies prove how positively impacted companies are when they allow their audience to indulge in nostalgia through their advertisements.

Marchegiani, Christopher, and Ian Phau. "The Value of Historical Nostalgia for Marketing Management." 

Marketing Intelligence and Planning

 29.2 (2011/01/01/): 108-22. Print.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

A taste of nostalgia: Links between nostalgia and food consumption

Joe Wilwerding

Associate Professors of Marketing Alexandra Vignolles and Paul Emmanuel Pichon discuss the relationship between food consumption and nostalgia in their paper: A Taste of Nostalgia: Links between Nostalgia and Food Consumption. To them, the association of food and nostalgia was obvious. They noticed there had not been much research on the subject, so they decided to pursue the topic in order to gain more knowledge of consumer preference. In order to gather evidence of the seemingly obvious link between nostalgia and patterns of food consumption, Vignolles and Pichon surveyed 300 people about nostalgic consumption; 100 of which referenced food consumption. From this groundbreaking result, the two Associate Professors of Marketing embarked on a monumental research project asking the important question: How is nostalgia related to the consumption of food? They attempt to answer this question by explaining how nostalgia might comfort food consumers and how eating nostalgic meals results in the attainment of identity.

Vignolles and Pichon first described why nostalgia is an attractive feature of food products. They noticed society is becoming more and more fearful of food products. Perhaps they are referring to the GMO outrage, the vegan trend, razor blades in candy, etcetera. A 2011 statistical analyses of this fear supports their argument: “…85 per cent of the respondent households think that their food pattern has an impact on their health as against 79 per cent in 2000 and 75 per cent in 1997” (qtd. in Pichon and Vignolles, 1.1). This shows an increase in awareness that food has an impact on health. So, how does one get around this fear in order to continue selling potentially harmful products to the general public? Nostalgia! Assuming there is a general understanding that nostalgia promotes comfort and reassurance, an advertisement that elicits a nostalgic response should make the consumer feel safe about consuming the product. Vignolles and Pichon remind us that eating new foods is always a risk, and the fear of choosing the wrong product makes us highly anxious. Nostalgia is thus a useful tool to combat these feelings.

The two Associate Professors then moved on to describe how consuming food is a cultural event. Vignolles and Pichon recognize that sharing a meal is: “a social institution playing a fundamental part in socializing and transmitting the norms and values of social groups” (qtd. in Pichon and Vignolles, 2.1). Many emotions are tied to the dinner table, and there are an abundance of symbols that can bring us back to a time we felt these emotions such as recipes, the food itself, cutlery, and other food related objects.  Many of these objects stir up a response to a meal that was had after a significant event, like a celebration or a funeral. By nostalgically looking back at these times via food symbols, one can gain a bit of self-identity by reminiscing on an “idealized past” (qtd. in Pichon and Vignolles, 2.1). This is most common in family recipes. The passing down of a traditional family recipe can take one back to a time where one belonged.

Vignolles and Pichon conducted an open-ended survey where they asked participants to: “Describe a situation in which you have experienced nostalgia, and describe all the emotions you have felt on this occasion, [and then] describe a nostalgic situation associated with a consumption activity and all the related emotions you have experienced” (Pichon and Vignolles, 3.1). Approximately   half of the participants responded with a story related to food consumption. The stories included sentiments about longing for the past and how they once belonged. The study gathered evidence that people get nostalgic about food and want to go back to the time they ate a particular cuisine.

Using nostalgia to quell the fear of trying a new dish is not only a bit Machiavellian, but also pretty tight. If the producers of the product see no harm in its consumption, I suppose they are not doing anything morally wrong. However, the knowledge that “nostalgia sells” can be pretty dangerous if it is in the wrong hands. Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and people are suckers for it. I recall buying a glass bottle of some Mexican soda (the name eludes me). I bought it because I was nostalgic for drinking out of the glass soda bottles my grandmother once offered me. After drinking some of it, I noticed a faint-brown foreign substance coating the inside of the neck of the bottle. People occasionally find severed fingers in their fast food bags though, so I guess it could have been a one-time mistake. Or, it could have been a cheaply and haphazardly made product that could only sell if presented in a nostalgic light. It seems like a stretch, and it probably was not the case for my Mexican soda, but it is nevertheless conceivable that some corporate executive would make a cheap and harmful product and use nostalgia to sell it. Despite all this, I find the concept fascinating. Nostalgia is powerful, and it elicits many emotions that drive people to spend hard-earned money and things they do not need. The discovery of this fact is genius in the business community.

From class I learned that nostalgia can increase self-continuity. The relationship between this and the sharing of meals is interesting. Sharing a meal with your family does create a special kind of connection. Sometimes at my rental house, I try to mimic the dinners my parents would prepare. It helps me remember a time where I did not have to worry about preparing my own meals. It also does more than that, I fondly look back at the conversations that took place at dinner. I am glad this is a common phenomenon. It does increase self-identity because I look back at those times and the conversations we would have, and they are similar to the ones we would have today. It is also a way to remember the values your family taught you, and through that you can form an identity. I was always expected to clean up my mess after dinner, a simple task that taught me the cliché message of being responsible. Living with two roommates, I can say different expectations were held after dinner (the sink is full while the dishwasher remains empty). However, the influence of nostalgia combined with the culture of sharing a meal makes me certain they have learned their own sets of values.

Reading through the nostalgia excerpts from the participants, a common theme was made clear by the authors. Most of them reflected on their experiences fondly, but then noted a sadness because they could not return to that time again. From what I have learned and read in class, that is the epitome of nostalgia. This essay correlates well with all the other assigned readings. Nostalgia is an interesting phenomenon that we can all identify with and collectively share with others.

Vignolles A., & Pichon P.-E. (2014). A taste of nostalgia: Links between nostalgia and food consumption. Qualitative Market Research, 17(3), 225-238. doi:10.1108/QMR-06-2012-0027

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[nostalgiacolloquium]

Exploring Nostalgia’s Influence on Psychological Growth

Kian McIntosh

Summary

In the scholarly article “Exploring Nostalgia’s Influence on Psychological Growth” (Baldwin, Landau 2014), the authors attempt to determine if nostalgia promotes psychological growth. Within the background information provided in this article on the effects of nostalgia, they reference the work relevant to nostalgia of many other psychologists, including Routledge. The authors accepted much of what was stated within Nostalgia: A Psychological Resource, most notably that nostalgia has been found to help the individual experiencing it through alleviating loneliness, boosting self-esteem, and promoting other generally positive ideas.

With this in mind, the authors sought out to test in a direct manner if nostalgia promotes cognitive growth, and what positive aspect of nostalgia is accountable for any promotion of growth. They hypothesized that either an increase in belongingness, meaning in life, positive self-regard, or a combination of these factors caused by nostalgia would be accountable for psychological growth. In this hypothesis, these could promote cognitive growth indirectly, as they are all necessary (according to some models) before an individual will seek out new opportunities to better themselves.

The first study conducted within this article was intended to test the effect of nostalgia on how apt people are to try new things. In this test, participants in the experimental group were told to think of a nostalgic memory, while those in the control group were told to think of an ordinary memory. Then, they completed surveys that utilized the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI-II) and Exploration Inventory (EI). These indices required participants to rate themselves on several statements regarding how open they are to new experiences. For example, a question on the CEI-II may ask the participant to rate how much they agree with the statement “I am the kind of person who embraces unfamiliar people, events, and places”. Similarly, the EI would ask participants how much they agree with a statement such as “I would like to explore someplace that I have never been before”. In contrast, positive emotion was measured by providing the participants a list of positive words (such as inspired, happy, bold, joyful, etc.) and asked them to rate to what extent they were experiencing that emotion. This study found that higher nostalgia scores are positively correlated with both positive emotion and to higher scores on the CEI-II and EI.

Study 2 was very similar in nature to study 1. However, study 2 focused on nostalgia induced by autobiographical memories, and was used to test if nostalgia induced feelings of belongingness, meaning in life, and positive self-regard in addition to the results of the CEI-II and EI. Once again, this study found a positive correlation between nostalgia and scores on the CEI-II and EI, as well as between nostalgia and belongingness, meaning in life, and positive self-regard. The three previously mentioned factors were also tested through a similar, self-reported method. For example, participants would rate how much the either nostalgic or ordinary autobiographical work “Makes me value myself” for positive self-regard, “Makes me feel connected to loved ones” for belongingness, and “Makes me feel life is meaningful” for meaning in life. The authors concluded that positive self-regard was the biggest factor for promoting cognitive growth.

Analysis

           What stands out to me about this article is that it has a striking number of similarities to the chapters of Nostalgia: a Psychological Resource. First, it reviews research that the authors had done on nostalgia. Secondly, this research was quantitative in nature, as in, the authors had a set method for ranking each participant in their nostalgia, positive emotion, belongingness, meaning in life, and positive self-regard that remained constant between all of the participants. Third, the authors of this article had similar beliefs about nostalgia prior to conducting research as Routledge and his co-authors did. In fact, they even both referenced the same works that claimed that nostalgia was once thought of as a disease among soldiers fighting in foreign countries. Finally, they both came to the conclusion that nostalgia is good for you, although unlike this article, Routledge didn’t specifically claim that nostalgia promotes psychological growth. One major difference between this article and Nostalgia: a Psychological Resource is the method of communicating information to the reader, as this is a scholarly journal that contains tables and numbers, while the work of Routledge contained worded descriptions only.

           In my opinion, this article is not very convincing in its claims. Although I do believe it is possible for nostalgia to have positive effects on the individual, including psychological growth, I think it is quite presumptuous to assume that it benefits growth in all cases. All of the results from the participants were self-reported, which makes them face-valid only. On the surface, nostalgia may appear to be a solely helpful feeling, but the authors failed to provide evidence showing that participants had both positive emotion as well as cognitive growth without simply having the illusion of doing so. In addition to this, the authors also failed to state any caution about their results, which could be detrimental to future researchers who use this article as evidence.

           Another issue with this research is the heavy reliance on the co-authors of Nostalgia: a Psychological Resource. As I mentioned earlier, much of the background information within this article originates from Routledge et al. In addition to this, some of the research referenced by Baldwin and Landau is also referenced by Routledge et al. as well. What’s worse, there was no conflicting view of nostalgia presented in the introduction, as in, the authors didn’t reference any studies claiming that nostalgia was neutral, negative, or may have varying effects to individuals in any way. This clearly demonstrates there is a massive potential for bias by the author in favor of an unconditional positive view of nostalgia.

           Although Baldwin and Landau attempted to be methodical in their research on the effects of nostalgia on growth, I argue that the results presented by them are largely useless due to their sole use of face-valid techniques and their heavy bias in favor of the idea that nostalgia benefits the individual.

Baldwin, Matthew, and Mark J. Landau. "Exploring Nostalgia’s Influence on Psychological Growth." Self and Identity 13.2 (2014): 162-77. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Nostalgia in "Beowulf"

Andrew Aulner Dr. Todd Richardson Honors Colloquium: Nostalgia Bibliography Contribution February 13, 2017 In her essay “Speaking of Nostalgia in Beowulf,” Mary Catherine Davidson argues that the language of the poem supports the “masculinism” and warrior culture of the ancient Anglo-Saxon past as captured by the poem’s author in retrospect. Davidson’s analysis centers on the linguistic composition of three speeches within the poem: the king Hrothgar’s celebratory speech to the triumphant hero Beowulf, the speech of Hrothgar’s wife Wealhtheow to Beowulf about kinship, and Beowulf’s dying speech to his cousin and successor, Wiglaf. Davidson focuses on fellow scholar Robert E. Bjork’s criteria for heroic styles of speech, including parallelism, enjambed alliteration, and maxims; Davidson adds her own criteria, including the collocation (i.e. grouping) of any other heroic elements. Using this critical lens, Davidson concludes that King Hrothgar’s speech is authoritative and masculine while also incorporating nostalgia: Hrothgar looks upon the words “ancient strife” inscribed upon a sword hilt with happiness, equating this reminder of the difficult past (along with the image of the defeated Grendel’s severed head) with present success. Wealhtheow’s speech is more feminine, using fewer flexible poetic attributes and focusing on kinship. Finally, Davidson argues that Beowulf’s death speech, which is largely concerned with issues of inheritance and legacy, hearkens back to the language of Wealhtheow’s speech, marking Beowulf’s manner of speech as masculine in some regards and feminine in others. The connection Davidson makes is that memory in Beowulf is linked with masculinity. Hrothgar uses the past (in the form of a genealogy and written reminders of ancient difficulties) to construct a narrative for the present, Wealhtheow focuses on kinship and familial ties (again, linked with genealogy and the importance of the past for present-day success), and Beowulf himself speaks of his legacy—his own life viewed as a series of past events by those who will come after him. Davidson argues that the sheer language—the syntax, diction, and rhetorical devices—of the poem are concerned with the culture of the past, hence, nostalgia. In addition to the use of nostalgia within the narrative of the poem itself, Davidson argues that the poem is nostalgic in that it uses gendered language to reinforce the male-female roles of the time period in which the poem takes place, asserting the inherent normative value of past beliefs regarding gender relations through the use of language that, on the whole, hews to cultural values of the past: men tend to speak more authoritatively and women tend to speak with more reserve. I believe that Davidson makes some interesting observations regarding how specific phrases within this massive poem can affect a reading of the work’s themes as a whole, such as her note that Beowulf uses the Old English word leodscipe, or “nation,” when describing his bequeathal to Wiglaf, suggesting “his interest in the transmission of his legacy” (Davidson 153), particularly on a large scale. In this instance, Davidson’s insight reveals that Beowulf cares as much about others will look back upon his kingly reign as he does about the immediate concern of what will happen to his material goods. Examples like these relate Davidson’s linguistic assessments to the topic of nostalgia. However, Davidson only touches on other potential examples of nostalgia in her essay. For example, she says little in her essay about Wealhtheow’s concern for the past, choosing instead to elaborate upon her use of language regarding notions of kinship. Granted, kinship implies family, which implies genealogy and thus, a concern for both the past and the past’s influence upon the future, but Davidson neglects to pursue this in an essay purportedly meant to tackle the issue of nostalgia. I also found it interesting that Davidson spent little time reflecting on the nostalgic core of the heroic epic. The point of the genre is to dwell upon, revel in, and perhaps even learn from legends from the past. Whether the tale is told through a series of ancient incidents, as in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, or the story focuses on a single epic hero with a single epic destiny, as in Homer’s The Odyssey or Virgil’s The Aeneid, the epic poem is entirely about the adventures of the past. Yet, Davidson does not note the inherent nostalgic value of the poetic genre which she is examining through the lens of Beowulf. She opens and closes the essay with remarks to the effect of admitting the dueling impulses of the poem’s narrator, who both approves and disapproves of the setting’s warrior ethos, but she doesn’t relate this to the potential tensions within epic poetry as a whole. As a linguistic laymen, I had trouble interpreting Davidson’s arguments regarding gendered language, though some of her footnotes were helpful in making some points more easily understandable. However, her concluding statements get to the heart of the matter: “Perhaps the present-day attraction to premodern masculinities lies in their construction as seemingly solid and essentialist certainties…and also relies on a way of recalling the past to legitimize gender roles in the present” (Davidson 155). Davidson suggests that readers who are attracted to the gendered language and presentation of masculinity in Beowulf are indulging in restorative nostalgia, taking refuge in the past and imposing it upon the future. This is an interesting argument to make, and I only wish Davidson had offered some manner of research suggesting that there is, in fact, substantial “attraction to premodern masculinities” rather than throwing such a statement at the end of her essay. Davidson’s essay is heavy on linguistic analysis and fairly light on the actual examination of nostalgia. This is not wholly unexpected, given the fact that it was featured in a philological publication, but Davidson’s connection between ancient word structures and a longing for the past was not as strong as it might have been. Works Cited Davidson, Mary Catherine. “Speaking of Nostalgia in Beowulf.” Modern Philology, vol. 103, no. 2, 2005, pp. 143-155, https://goo.gl/W1Mb5a. Accessed 12 Feb. 2017.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Nostalgia, Technology, and Consumer Identity

Antonio Campbell

In this journal, Marc Ruppel analyzes the role that nostalgia plays in the induction of new technologies by looking through the lens of the 40th annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This event has been an essential gathering to showcase the latest and greatest products under the umbrella of consumer electronics (CE) since 1967, but in particular, the 40th anniversary show created an atmosphere of reflection and reminiscence. The unavoidable aesthetic of the show, as Ruppel states, is “the tension between past, ‘dead’ technologies, new ‘living’ technologies and us, the consumers” (538). This represents the contradictory relationship that nostalgia and technology have together. While most perceive technology to be rooted in progression and the future, Ruppel explains technological advancement nostalgically by viewing the past as a determinant of the future.  

Before analyzing the nostalgic influences at work during the CES, Ruppel describes the origin and overall definition of nostalgia to introduce his readers to the mechanics of this phenomenon. He breaks the word down to its roots; the Greek word “nostos” means “return home”, and the Latin word “algia” means “longing or pain”. With this he mentions the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer who is known for first using the term and defining it as a person’s longing for their homeland. Ruppel acknowledges that Hofer’s understanding of nostalgia is rooted in the present day comprehension of this feeling. For a modern definition of nostalgia, Ruppel cites Webster’s dictionary that describes nostalgia as “homesickness” or “a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition” (qtd. in Ruppel 541).

Ruppel makes a distinction between two forms of nostalgia: public and private. He categorizes public nostalgia as the collective experience and memory that people perceive of a certain time and place. He describes this nostalgia as a memory database where humans are connected through their shared conceptions about the past. Private nostalgia is based on personal conceptions of the past and how one interprets their self in relation to the past. Ruppel notes that both forms of nostalgia intertwine to influence the displays at CES; they create a platform to deliver new innovations.

The article analyzes technological nostalgia in relation to our past selves. Ruppel captures this nostalgia at CES as he experiences RCA’s profoundly nostalgic display. At their booth, a 1967 vs. 2007 skit was being performed to demonstrate technological differences of RCA’s brand in each respective year. The skit alluded to public nostalgic assumptions of 1960s technology to reinforce the notion that technology is better today and it’s better than it ever has been. Ruppel states this skit provided the means for the audience to project themselves back into a past that they may or may not have experienced. This projection allowed them to reflect on the development that technology has had in their lives in conjunction with the growth they have had as people. In turn, the audience will understand how they must adapt to new technologies now. RCA’s use of nostalgia in this case shifts the focus of technology to the consumer and asks the consumer to grow as the products themselves have.

Ruppel explores the nostalgia of technological objects themselves rather than one’s relation to the time period they came from. He notes that many of the products at this show have no histories because they are so new, but that doesn’t mean nostalgia doesn’t affect them. He explains that we have a private, object-oriented connection with certain technologies that signifies the personal histories we share with them. An artifact from the past may have the same function as the present day model, but the memory of the artifact still lives in what is modern. There is nostalgia felt for technological artifacts, but this feeling “is used as a means of familiarizing an audience with new technologies and situating it in a tech-landscape” (Ruppel 552).

While the concepts this journal presents and the vernacular it is written in are quite dense, it draws out valuable conclusions that we can make about nostalgia and its connection to technology. The first useful element this article presents is the definition of nostalgia. The introduction to nostalgia provided by Ruppel gives the reader a frame of reference to understand the arguments he discusses. By providing the readers with a crash course on assumptions and definitions about nostalgia, it is comparable to other journals that describe nostalgia in the same way; however, Ruppel is brief with his descriptions. The information he does share about nostalgia is necessary to understanding how nostalgia is imbedded in our relationships with technology.

A useful takeaway from this journal is the explanation of intermingling public and private nostalgia and its connection to technology. While Ruppel makes the definitions of each nostalgia category clear, he enthuses that these form the basis of memories we have about technology. These memories influence our consumer identity in the present. Our public, nostalgic perception of technology forms assumptions of a certain time period, but simultaneously private, nostalgic perceptions assign personal meaning to certain objects. The key takeaway here is that the combination of the two nostalgias forms the consumer’s current perception of technology and the consumer’s willingness to assign meaning to current technology by viewing its past.

I enjoyed the inclusion of schema theory into the article to help explain how the past self can affect the future self. The reader receives an introduction to schema theory similar to the introduction and definitions stated about nostalgia. Ruppel uses it to explain that when faced with new technology, in nostalgic thinking we turn to past experiences and circumstances that contain schematics. These schematics are carried to the present and then applied in the way we process new technology. The takeaway of this explanation is that past influences and experiences of technology determine the way the present self interprets technology.

While this journal discusses the nostalgia’s influence on technology, it is framed in a marketing viewpoint. This article should appeal to readers who are interested in how companies imbue nostalgia in advertising. After all, the CES is a huge advertisement block for electronics companies. Ruppel uncovers the reason for strong nostalgic aesthetics present at the CES; it helped consumers idealize the past, learn from it, and align their consumer identities with current technologies. In this way, the journal captures nostalgia as negative material. Displays at the CES, make past technologies seem obsolete compared to new material. This pushes audiences closer to current innovations.

A conclusion about the ideas presented in this journal is that technological adaption is motivated by our past. Nostalgically remembering past technologies shapes our preference for novelty, but conversely, novel technologies evoke remembrance of the past. In due time, these novel technologies will one day become symbols of the past too, and they will shape our technological identity in the future.

Marc Ruppel (2009) You are then, this is now: nostalgia, technology and consumer identity at CES 2007, Social Identities, 15:4, 537-555, DOI: 10.1080/13504630903043899

[nostalgiacolloquium]

NOSTALGIA, THE PUBLIC SPACE AND DIASPORA

Dalton Meister

Abstract

Nostalgia, the Public Space and Diaspora written by Rita Verma, contemplates the complexities of life as a diasporic people, or as defined by some as a population with a distinct cultural background who come from some form of historic “homeland” or “hearth” and have been displaced from this place due to circumstance. In this case, this population is the Sikh people, a distinct religious sect with a cultural identity that is arguably ethnic in nature as well, and how their quest for self-identity leads to nostalgic features. This article speaks to the distinct number of Sikh youth in American society through a variety of methods, in hopes of understanding the defining of the self that one undergoes when growing up in a marginalized and diasporic immigrant population. This is achieved through three distinct sections of text which each hold their own take on why this “defining of the self” (Verma, 2013) occurs. These three distinct sections are immigrant challenges, Sikh youth and ideals of citizenship, and the quest for personal identity in the public and private spaces (Verma, 2013).

The first section, immigrant challenges, juxtaposes our thoughts on the challenges of becoming an immigrant with those endured by the subjects of this text, in this case, the Sikh. This section talks specifically about the challenges of what Verma calls “the second generation” or the generation that is the first in immigrant lines to have held no direct upbringing in the cultural homeland of their ancestors (Verma, 2013). Another challenge is what is called “dissonant acculturation” by this article (Verma, 2013). Dissonant acculturation may occur when children are more easily able to adapt to this new land, in comparison to their parents or relatives who see it as a shock or culture or a whole new world. The third point of this section was the struggle, as an immigrant specifically, to find ones’ identity.

The next section, broadly titled Sikh youth and ideals of citizenship (Verma, 2013), serves to propose that Sikh youth share and disagree on some of the main ideas of what it means to be a citizen in a foreign nation (a population that shares some common form of lineage or culture). The Sikh, as stated in this section, are what are known as a “diasporic” group, or one that is referred to as a community that retains consciousness and solidarity that maintains identification outside of the nation-state in order to live inside with a difference (Verma, 2013). The article then goes on to speak about the coupled marginalization of the Sikh in American culture and the failure of the public schools, and interest in social media, to indulge in the longings of these children of south-Asian immigrants in finding their cultural and historical roots and their collective identity (Verma, 2013).

The third section, or the quest for personal identity in the public and private spaces (Verma, 2013), is defined in its name. This section focuses primarily on firstly, what it means to have “true” identity, whether it be as an American or as a Sikh (Verma, 2013). The article then takes personal accounts from several sources, in an effort to piece together the cultural struggle that not only challenges the first generation, however, how it also challenges the second generation in trying to piece together what it means to be Sikh-American (Verma, 2013). Finally, in this section, Verma brings these ideas together to culminate into the idea of why this personal identity has nostalgic essence using, engagement with nostalgia, and self-continuity as well as other forms, to define the now nostalgic quest by Sikh youth to understand their personal and cultural identity in the world.

Importance and Analysis

The article begins with its nostalgic importance on page 63 by talking about how “nostalgic interpretation” can be a result, and cause, of tension when there is also a marginalization of the population (Verma, 2013). The article talks about how when specific practices make them different from the host culture, and how these different representations of the self should be embraced, instead of rejected. Otherwise, this may lead to a sense of a loss of belongingness, a trigger for nostalgia, as was mentioned in previous research by Routledge and colleagues.

As previously stated, a large portion of this article rests on the thought that the Sikh youth must constantly adapt to highly sensitive and differing public and private spaces, due to cultural norms and values, with little knowledge of the homeland as the “second generation” (Verma, 2013). Should these values fail to be upheld, Sikh youth begin to face little to no social support and must then begin to define the self, without the support of their community. Once again, the loss of belongingness is shown in these paragraphs.

The article continues to go on to talk about how modern immigrants are faced with the challenge of acculturation in American society, and how of the three ways in which acculturation can occur, only one usually has a healthy outcome, the others lead to gaps in parental and generational support of youth. These cultural clashes between children and parents can usually lead to two things. The first is psychological discontinuities, which are gaps in cultural understanding in a multi-cultural setting that can lead to conflict or disagreement. The second is a factor of dissonant acculturation, the idea that children will acculturate at a faster rate than their parents, which by making parents dependent upon the children for certain services, leaves perceived gaps in power and may lead to a loss of support and a host of other problems for the youth. This may lead to that loss of identity once more that triggers nostalgia.

It was shown in the article that certain events or ideas such as 1984 and 9/11 can bring marginalization and discrimination to people of different origins, usually forcing them to assimilate into host cultures as an act of self-preservation. However, during and after these events occur, social media produced by transnational corporations such as Facebook were shown to lend a forum to these communities to form a collective identity out of this crisis and discrimination (Verma, 2013). People from these cultural sects would use these sites as an outlet for their emotion and disagreement with their treatment, though also as a forum to connect with an identity that they may not be able to express anymore, sometimes nostalgically, sometimes not.

Another large source of nostalgia in this community is derived from the loss of self that is accompanied by the idea that Sikh youth are neither “true Americans” or “true Sikh” and the cultural divides that ensue from this idea (Verma, 2013). The nostalgia in this section is experienced primarily by the first generation and existing community as they see the increasing “westernization” of their youth as a perceived threat and how through examples given by elders in the community, they feel they are under attack and they must instill past values in their youth to protect the “old ways” (Verma, 2013). Some of this reasoning is cultural, however, the author finds a tinge of the self-continuity in this community that may be nostalgic in nature. The youth, however, face strict cultural repercussions for deviating from these norms, specifically wearing a turban in public, and are viewed as a cultural threat by their own community, even when they believe in the same practices as the community.

The article briefly summarizes by giving insight into why this nostalgia may be occurring in these diasporic communities by quoting Ritivoi (2002), and it states: “Nostalgia makes the home into origin, and the past into a heroic past.”

The quote goes on to talk about how since a past formed in this manner is mystical, nostalgia will undermine all attempts to connect the past to the present. Nostalgia will also serve as a way to amend personal histories, in an attempt to live it over again. The past from then forth serves as a safety net for individuals whose origins are in those communities and allows them to embark on future endeavors with confidence as stated in Ritivoi (2002) (Verma, 2013).

This Article serves to juxtapose several aspects of nostalgia with life in Sikh culture and primarily Sikh youth. It serves as a tool for beginning to think about how life for immigrants is much different than that of natural-born citizens, and how in times of difficulty, nostalgia may also serve as a tool to preserve cultural values and ideas.

Verma, R. (2013). NOSTALGIA, THE PUBLIC SPACE AND DIASPORA, Sikh   Formations, 9(1), 63-71

[nostalgiacolloquium]

A Maritime Sensation That’s Sweeping the Sea-Nation!

Zachary Sabata

In Jonathan Lamb's "Scoburtic Nostalgia", he presents the intertwining relationship between scurvy, a common nutritional ailment amongst seamen throughout history, and homesickness, a mysterious psychological plague that afflicted many overseas and in the military. Termed “scorbutic nostalgia” by naval physician Thomas Trotter in 1792, Lamb’s article aims to further argue this connection by consideration of multiple historic accounts by various intellects in the 18th century.

First as an introduction into the presence of scurvy and nostalgia in tandem with one another, Lamb recounts the statements of Trotter regarding scorbutic nostalgia and its symptoms, namely lethargy and depression acting as precursors to the common swollen gums and hemorrhages associated with scurvy. He then goes to state the afflicted individuals dream and crave not only for food, but for “green fields and streams of pure water”, only to wake to disappointment and regret. He then goes to further outline Trotter’s study into the connection between scoburtic sailors and their psychological condition. Following this, he identifies one of the first experimental confirmations of nostalgia as a mental disorder by Joseph Banks during his voyage about the Endeavor, in which he noticed sailors lacking citrus juice in their diet began to experience homesickness, to which physicians attributed to the disease of nostalgia. He then follows this study up with a summarization of William Falconer’s essay “A dissertation on the influence of the passions on the disorders of the body”, where he notes the connections made between scurvy and nostalgia. He focuses primarily on the claims made that nostalgia is a mental affliction which is hurtful and potentially fatal.

He then goes to question why it is that scurvy became the single most commonly associated ailment with nostalgia, as the symptoms of the two would appear to be at odds with one another, as scurvy often causes extreme lethargy, and nostalgia concerns vivid and sensational dreams. To answer this, a neurological approach discussing nerves, sensory perception, and malnutrition is taken. Ultimately, he concludes that scurvy causes damage within the nerves resulting in the vivid hallucinations that nostalgia was tied to. To further his point, he argues that the added complications of calenture, or ‘sea fever’ serve to offer more evidence connecting nostalgia to maritime diseases. He notes that the fever dreams and hallucinations related to calenture compared to scurvy are just as documented, if not more so, indicating that it too may be connected to nostalgia. Ultimately, after turning to personal accounts of various sailors who either witnessed or experienced calenture or scurvy, he determines that calenture differs from scoburtic nostalgia by the content of hallucination, land versus the homeland, present versus the past.

Following this, he describes various historical accounts both of nostalgia and its potential cure by Hofer, Boym, and Goodman, who each have coined their own description for nostalgia such as Goodman’s claim that it is a ‘disease of displacement’ and one of ‘the growing pains of a historical existence’.  He offers further discussion on the topic of historical estimates of nostalgia and calenture before going into a lengthy and strange tangent regarding the belief that nitrous oxide was the source of all disease, including the account of Humphrey Davy when studying the gas and performing self-experimentation.

“The hero and the infant here unite” is what I feel to be the one of the most illuminating quotes from the article, as it very well ties together the behaviors of those “afflicted” with nostalgia overseas. This statement combines both the very physical situation in which the individual’s body exists and the imaginative realm which the individual’s mind exists. One especially interesting account presented was that of Charles Darwin, who claimed to be “overwhelmed by memories of the friends of his youth” as he sailed off the Pacific coast of South America.

Before reading Lamb’s article on the topic, I would have never connected scurvy to nostalgia, specifically, but since the reading, it has made a lot more sense to my mind that scurvy would be connected to a sense of nostalgia. Those who are overseas are much more penchant to developing a feeling of homesickness, which compounds upon itself heavily when one is afflicted with as debilitating of a condition as scurvy or calenture. I also do appreciate that the author touched upon the seemingly paradoxical nature of being afflicted by both lethargy (scurvy) and hysteria (nostalgia), as that was something I was beginning to wonder as I progressed through the article. The manner in which he solves this apparent paradox, however, is a little odd in relation to the remainder of the essay, as it is much more scientific than the remainder of the article, but nonetheless presents a clear explanation of the matter. And as the author mentions, this mixture of maritime ailments explains many seafaring myths that have persisted throughout literature, and thus adds a new ‘nostalgic’ lens to understand how they developed.

I definitively agree with Lamb’s approach to treating scurvy and calenture as two separate conditions, as they are often lumped together historically, given that many sailors experienced them simultaneously. However, in today’s modern seafaring practices scurvy is all but eliminated from the worries of sailors, yet calenture is not, and nostalgic longing for home persists. An interesting cure he mentions, concocted by the French, was to take a sample of ‘patriotic earth’ from home, and bathe in it when affected by scurvy. As one could imagine, this likely did little to alleviate homesickness. The ‘cures’ he presents only get stranger throughout the article, especially by the end when he goes on a very lengthy tangent about how nitrous oxide causes one to practically hallucinate, so it was considered a cause for all contagious diseases. I would like to add that this last topic was far too lengthy and for the most part felt irrelevant to the rest of the article, as it felt like there was little connection tying it to the goal of the article. The only real point from which to take from this tangent was that for those who find themselves in a dream-like state, be it induced by a nostalgic fever dream yearning for the past or a self-induced nitrous oxide hallucination, they are unable to determine just to what degree of intensity is their imagined world. This idea does happen to help explain just how intensely debilitating the compilation of scurvy, calenture, and nostalgic desires can be upon those at sea.

Jonathan Lamb (2013) Scorbutic nostalgia, Journal for Maritime Research, 15:1, 27-36, DOI: 10.1080/21533369.2013.783165

[nostalgiacolloquium]

Music-Evoked Nostalgia: Affect, Memory, and Personality

AnnaLee Kuehler

The paper “Music-Evoked Nostalgia: Affect, Memory, and Personality” was written by Frederick S. Barrett, Kevin J. Grimm, and Rickard W. Robins. This study was the first to comprehensively study musically-evoked nostalgia. In this study, nostalgia was described as “a complex emotion that gives rise primarily to positive affect, and serves to counteract sadness and loneliness.” The researchers determined that nostalgia was an affective process that accompanied autobiographical memories. Investigations have implicated that nostalgia was an emotion often triggered by music.

There were two main constructs that could possibly contribute to a nostalgic experience: Context-level constructs and personal level constructs. Context-level constructs were defined as “referring to aspects of a person’s relationship to a given song, as well as attributes of a person’s experience while listening to a given song.” The familiarity and the degree to which a song is associated with a personal memory are expressions of a person’s relationship to that song. Basically, these constructs may help explain why the same person experiences varying levels of nostalgia when listening to different songs.

The second group are personal-level constructs. These are referring to individual differences between listeners. For example, a person’s proneness to nostalgia or the degree to which individuals differ on personality traits like extraversion or neuroticism.  These variables may help explain why some people feel more nostalgic when listening to music than other people. The underlying premise is “the basic idea that the extent to which a particular piece of music will evoke nostalgia is a function of context-level variables, person-level variables, and the interaction between context-level and person-level variables.

In this experiment, the participants (226 psychology undergraduate student volunteers ages 18-28 years old) were presented with randomly selected excerpts of popular music. The music consisted of 30 15-second song samples from the Billboard Top 100 Pop, Hip Hop, and R&B lists on the Apple iTunes Music Store. The music was randomly chosen from songs that were released when the participant was between the ages of 7 and 19, with the distribution peaking at the age of 15. Before the listening started, the participants had their moods assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. This is because in another study, it was found that participants in a negative mood were more nostalgic than participants who were in either a positive or negative mood.

After each excerpt, they were to rate how nostalgic each song made them feel using the Southampton Nostalgia Scale. Several other questionnaires were presented as well to assess other factors. A stronger sense of nostalgia was established to the extent that the song was “autobiographically salient, arousing, familiar, and elicited a greater number of positive, negative, and mixed emotions.” The effects of nostalgia were moderated by individual differences such as: mood state, a person’s proneness to nostalgia, the dimensions of the Affective Neurosciences Personality Scale, and the factors of the Big Five Inventory. Proneness to nostalgia was predicted using the Sadness dimension of the Affective Neurosciences Personality Scale and Neuroticism of the Big Five Inventory. Nostalgia itself is associated with both sadness and joy. Non-nostalgic and non-autobiographical experiences, however, were associated with irritation.

There were a total of 1,112 unique excerpts of songs used in this study. There were 6,720 presentations during this experiment. 26% of these were rated at least somewhat nostalgic.  The strength of nostalgia was most strongly predicted by context, and less strongly by the person’s attributes. The findings of this experiment support other literature used in this study. It was found that both the number of positive and negative emotions experienced were significant predictors of more intense music-evoked nostalgia.

Coming into this without any of my learned knowledge of nostalgia, I did know that music and emotions and memories (nostalgia) worked together. From my music background, I knew that music could have a profound effect on people. It could send them back to relive past experiences and remind them of something forgotten. I have seen a video of a man suffering from age and mental disorders come alive again while listening to music from his past. This alone confirms the whole idea to me.

The findings of this study didn’t surprise me. What did stun me a bit was the experiment itself. It has so many factors and variables that I am unsure how they managed to analyze the data collected with so much information gathered. It seems like there are too many levels going on in this experiment. It is also a concern for me that they actually had the word “nostalgic” in their questionnaires. I feel like that could very easily influence the participants’ answers. I think that the experiment should be split up into several different studies so that the study itself is not so intricate, there would not be as much data to sort through and analyze, and there would be a more definite independent variable. That is just my opinion as a semi-educated undergraduate student, though. I could be completely wrong.

On the other hand, I felt that the authors were thorough in their writing. It does a great job at defining the terminology used, especially for nostalgia itself. I do like that they used prior studies to support their definition of nostalgia. Even though it was very intricate, I did feel they did a good job at explaining all of the different aspects of their experiment. As a person coming into this reading fairly uneducated on the subject, the information was presented in an understandable manner. Thank you for reading this rambling post!

 Music-evoked nostalgia: Affect, memory, and personality.

Barrett, Frederick S.; Grimm, Kevin J.; Robins, Richard W.; Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine; Janata, Petr

Emotion, Vol 10(3), Jun 2010, 390-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019006

[nostalgiacolloquium]

“I feel relaxed when I touch dirt.” Why Though?

Charlotte Reilly

The use of nostalgia in advertising is common. People want to buy objects, food and music that reminds them of a time when they were happy. A campaign in Japan called Shokuiku takes the use of nostalgia even further. The campaign uses nostalgia to remind the entire country of the traditional Japanese diet. The goal of the campaign is to reduce Japan’s food dependence on other countries and reduce rates of obesity. By using nostalgia to remind citizens of eating traditional Japanese meals with their family, the campaign hopes the country will shift their food consumption from a westernized diet to a traditional diet.

The article “Advancing Food Sovereignty or Nostalgia: The Construction of Japanese Diets in the National Shokuiku Policy” by Wakako Takeda, Cathy Banwell, and Jane Dixon explains Shokuiku, states the Shokuiku movement was started by grassroots activists in the 1990s. According to the text, “The word Shokuiku originated from Sagen Ishizuka, a medical doctor in the Japanese imperial army in the nineteenth century, who advocated that food education provides the foundation for the cultivation of body (tai-iku), knowledge (chi-iku), and cultural wisdom (sai-iku).”  At first only the wealthy joined the movement because fresh food is more expensive than processed food. In June 2005, the Japanese parliament legalized the Shokuiku campaign as the Basic Law of Shokuiku.

The law brings together the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The three ministries work together improve and increase local food production, promote healthy eating in school, and ensure food safety. The campaign ensures trust between producers and consumers because food is bought locally. It also makes food sovereignty the people’s responsibility. Local governments and communities are responsible for forming their own produce and nutrition laws.

The Japanese government introduced food sovereignty to combat the corporate food system that focused more on money than health. The article says Japan’s food self-sufficiency is “extremely low compared to other developed countries.”  More and more Japanese people are eating westernized food that is full of fat and preservatives. This has led to increased obesity and dependence on imported food. Less people are eating traditional Japanese meals. However, many Japanese people are nostalgic for traditional meals because it reminds them of their childhood.

Nostalgia has increased the interest of citizens in the campaign. The article states, “The campaign attempts to advance both governmental and public interests in food sovereignty by constructing common images of Japanese diets and nostalgia for rural agriculture.” The authors conducted interviews with thirty-one adults between twenty and forty years of age. The adults live in the urban area of eastern Japan and have different jobs, relationship statuses, and living arrangements.

Many of the interviewees are nostalgic for locally produced food and home cooked meals. One participant said he missed shopping at farmers markets. He said the vegetables at supermarkets do not taste “real.” If the food at supermarkets tasted “real”, he would cook more often. Many participants agreed that they feel disconnected from food supplied in the supermarket because they cannot see the faces of those who produce it. Some even said the “fake” food has a different taste and makes their stomachs upset.

A couple of the people the authors interviewed go to local farms to help produce the food they eat. They go not only to meet new people, but also because it relieves stress. One participant said, “I feel relaxed when I touch dirt.” The authors conclude that Japanese people are nostalgic for rural agriculture because it makes them feel connected to their heritage. They are interested in the Shokuiku campaign because of their family tradition of a rural lifestyle, not because they feel they have to buy locally in order to be loyal to Japan.

The Shokuiku campaign fascinates me because it brings nostalgia to the large scale. It amazes me that a country is using nostalgia to promote local agriculture and healthy living. I would expect a brand to use nostalgia in their advertising, but I never would have thought it possible for an entire government to advertise their health agenda through nostalgia.

Small farmers are becoming less common as corporations take over the agricultural world. It seems this campaign may be the answer to complete monopolization of agriculture by large global corporations. If people buy locally, there will be no market in Japan for imported food.

I found it interesting that the government in Japan is worried about obesity rates. Although obesity rates have gone up in Japan, they are far below the United States. Yet, the United States is doing much less when it comes to combating obesity.

I found it odd that participants complained food in supermarkets tasted “fake.” I doubt that there was an actual taste difference. Most likely their objection to the food is purely based on the knowledge that it is not local, not on the taste of the food. Some of the participants may have over exaggerated the reactions they had to supermarket food. I do not think vegetables from the supermarket would cause stomach aches.  

I was surprised that many adults said they were nostalgic for rural agriculture. People usually embrace westernization. People want to be as advanced and up to date as possible. When I think of rural agriculture, I think of family farms in the early 1900s. Though family farms may be/ may have been great, I would much rather live in the 2017 society than in the 1920 society. My mother grew up on a family farm. She had to wake up early to feed the animals and was not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities because she had to help out on the farm. It shocks me that so many people want to return to that lifestyle.

I think that the lifestyle appeals to them because they are not the ones who grew up on a farm. Their parents or grandparents did. Their parents and grandparents probably told them stories about living on the farm, but left out or romanticized the hard work it required. In Coontz’s articles, she found that many people have selective memories. For example, Coontz explained that people romanticize the 1950s, but sometimes “forget” that black people were discriminated. The parents and grandparents of the participants in the Japanese study probably, like those in Coontz’s study, only told them about the happy memories of the farm.

In order to get a fuller grasp of Japanese people’s opinions of Shokuiku, more studies need to be done. The study was targeted at a small age group. New studies need to be made for age groups ranging from adolescence to old age. I think the results would be more solidified if the authors came up with actual studies, rather than just interviewing participants.

Overall, I think the implementation of Shokuiku in Japan is fascinating. It proves that nostalgia is a powerful tool that can lead to nationwide support of an idea or campaign. I hope the authors of this article perform more studies because I want to know how effective nostalgia really is and how big of a role it played in the campaign.

Takeda, Wakako, Cathy Banwell, and Jane Dixon. "Advancing Food Sovereignty or Nostalgia: The Construction of Japanese Diets in the National Shokuiku Policy." Anthropological Forum 26.3 (2016): 276-88. Web.

[nostalgiacolloquium]

I Found One About Video Games!

Xavier Royer

Summary

The article I found and am using is “Nostalgia and the Dystopia of History in 2K's Bioshock Infinite” by Martin Buinicki. As the title suggests, Buinicki looks at nostalgia in the context of a fairly recently released game by 2K studios, Bioshock Infinite.

The author initially offers the reader some context initially, but more information is given bit by bit as the article rumbles forward. To put it all together, Bioshock Infinite is a first-person shooter (another example of this genre is call of duty, if you’re familiar) game that is set in 1893 in a dystopian, steampunk city called Columbia. The player assumes the role of Booker DeWitt as he shoots his way through Columbia with the vague purpose of finding a girl, which is later learned to be Elizabeth, and dealing with some sort of debt (Buinicki doesn’t really give us a good summary of the end goal, and I haven’t played this game so that’s all I can share).

On the surface, Columbia is awesome. Everywhere, people worship the American founding fathers. Buinicki mentions specifically Ben Franklin and George Washington, but others are present as well as well. There are barber shop quartets doing singing Beach Boys songs. There’s even a fair in town. However, at the fair the player begins to realize that Columbia isn’t what it seems. The player wins a prize, which is the chance to be the first the chuck a baseball at a mixed race couple. Buinicki describes this moment as one of immense enlightenment, as the player is hit like a bag of bricks with the realization that Columbia is white-washed more than Gods of Egypt was. Buinicki describes other examples of racism in the game: Misrepresentation of the “Battle” of Wounded Knee (more recent from the game’s perspective) and John Wilkes Booth being featured alongside other American heroes.  

The main message that Buinicki makes is that nostalgia can mask the horrors of the past. He argues that the game has knack for putting the player in tough moral situations, such as the baseball. Buinicki makes the point that often when we are nostalgic for a time, we leave out the unappealing parts subconsciously. He states that older white people may often think of a period in the past when white people were more prominent. This also speaks to the point he makes about fear of the future makes the past, and thus nostalgia, more appealing. The past doesn’t contain a fear of nuclear apocalypse or economic downturn like the present like the present, or at least you can’t be afraid of those things happening in the past because it already happened.

Buinicki spend some time on another quirky thing the game does to the player. DeWitt, the player controlled character, has a history of working for the racist society (and government? It’s not clear). It disables the player from being able to separate or exempt themselves from the moral wrongdoing that takes place in the game. This plays well with the decision making mechanic in the game. In the first two Bioshock games (Infinite is the series’ third addition), player decisions impacted the outcome of the game, and it gave the player agency to create a desired ending. Breaking from the series’ tradition, Infinite gives players decisions to make, but none of them actually matter aside from a cut scene or two. The levels of the game stay the same, as does the ending, removing the players chance at ending up “the good guy”.

Analysis

Before I go any further, while I (and the peer-reviewers) thought the article was decent, I think Buinicki sort of fumbled a really awesome topic. The paragraph to paragraph organization was odd, and I couldn’t put a rhyme or reason to it upon review. It wasn’t a hundred percent clear where the article was taking the reader, and there was no good summary at the end to tie it together. It was a lot of info sort of tossed in haphazardly. Also, he needed to explain the game itself a bit better. What is the “Rapture” he mentioned two or three times? I still have no idea as to the plot of this video game. It would’ve been helpful to know more about this game, especially considering it’s an example of high-level social commentary. I get the feeling that when he had other people read this through before sending it in, people asked these questions, he answered them in person, but never actually put it in the paper.

As far as subject matter goes, this was super interesting. I smiled when he talked about not remembering the past the way it actually was but rather in an idealized way, because that’s something that’s come up in class a few times. In fact, he actually seemed really well versed in the nostalgia pieces of his paper, almost more so than the video game parts, which seems a bit odd. Where the article as a whole lacked clarity, at the paragraph and idea level there are really good moments. Wounded Knee comes up in the game, and his relation of Wounded Knee’s misrepresentation to the reader is stellar. He informs that reader of the initial account of “Brave soldiers” being “murdered” by Indians, and thankfully the soldiers were fighting back “without quarter”. He then juxtaposes this with a later account of defective soldiers and artillery that had gunned down their men, and that women and children were also killed in the “battle”.

Though I feel he wrote it backwards, Buinicki also relays us a great example of the concept of nostalgia twisting our past in the game. At one point, while working their way through the museum, Elizabeth and DeWitt are attacked by automated, Disney Hall-of-Presidents style robots firing .50 caliber guns. The change from American Revolution Hero George Washington to Murderous Psychopath Robot George Washington is a very tangible example of how what we remember and our perspective of it may not always be accurate.

Going forward, I think this article would be good to use whenever you need a good example of bad nostalgia. I think our class is fairly united in a belief that nostalgia is good for the most part, or at least not detrimental unless taken to the extreme. I think this is a really good example of a “yeah, but-“ argument to nostalgia being perfect. I think the nostalgia described by Buinicki is an example of restorative nostalgia gone wrong, in such a way that a warped view of the past can have a significant negative impact on the present and future. In summary, if you’re looking for that counter-example to nostalgia being perfect with a cool video game as its prime example, you’ve come to the right place.

Buinicki, M. T. (2016), Nostalgia and the Dystopia of History in 2K's Bioshock Infinite. J Pop Cult, 49: 722–737. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12440