The Future Of Nostalgia Analysis

Nostalgia: A Result of Ambiguous Identity Svetlana Boym, in her book The Future of Nostalgia, explores the phenomenon of nostalgia with running parallels to time and society. She describes how nostalgia was first seen, or rather “diagnosed” in soldiers who were away from home and for whom “longing for their native land became their single- minded obsession” (Svetlana Boym 3). Using this example she supports the ordinary sense people have of nostalgia. This common sense states that being away from any physical structure of importance to one’s life, often one’s home, sparks the feeling of nostalgia. While this is true, it’s a highly one dimensional perspective of the convoluted nature of nostalgia. Svetlana Boym surfaces many different dimensions

Like the shared sense of belonging citizens feel to their country, town or city. The sense of ones’ nation, as highlighted in Boym’s book, has generated feelings of patriotism and nationalism. Every nation has its own identity by which it is judged and categorized by. Every country is defined by their unique set of features. When change occurs too fast by means of technology and modernization, there is a desire to look back at history. Heart is where the home was is an article written by Chimamanda Adiche that discusses her emotional responses when she re-visits her home. Adiche elaborately discusses the features of her home town, Nsukka, as she remembers it before leaving for her studies in America. She describes the people, the emotions, places, colours and buildings as she remembers and compares everything to what she sees presently, after 11 years of being away. She is sad that the place has changed. The identity of Nsukka has become one that borrowed from the American life. This makes her nostalgic for the way Nsukka used to be; the identity Nsukka had before she left. When she sees the same genuine smile of the butcher, unchanged through all the other changes, she feels happy. Something about the place still remained the