A Proposal for a Socio-anthropological Typology of Nostalgia: From the Concept of Disease to the Symptom of Contemporary Culture Cover Image

Предлог социо-антрополошке типологије носталгије: од концепта болести до симптома савремене културе
A Proposal for a Socio-anthropological Typology of Nostalgia: From the Concept of Disease to the Symptom of Contemporary Culture

Author(s): Ana Petrov
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, Applied Sociology
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: nostalgia; sociology; antropology; culture;

Summary/Abstract: In this article I analyse nostalgia as a socio-anthropological category. Nostalgia is here interpreted as a social and cultural phenomenon which was formed from 17th until 21stcentury, being transformed from a disease to a product on the contemporary market. Hence, nostalgia appears to be a “meta-concept”: a transtemporal category that allows for variation over time and place while recognising sufficient shared characteristics to talk about the same thing throughout. Dealing with nostalgia as a socio-anthropological issue, I will here elaborate on a certain typology of it, claiming that it can be seen as: 1. a disease, 2. a state, emotion and way of remembering, and 3. an experience. Finally, I will especially point to the importance of the issue of nostalgia in contemporary discourses on society and culture.

  • Issue Year: LXVIII/2020
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 221-236
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Serbian