Peter Fritzsche has addressed this topic in his AHA article "Specters of History" (December, 2001) which he expanded into a book called "Stranded in the Present" (Harvard, 2004). The second work is a little longer but more clearly written. There are problems with Fritzsche's thesis, though. See Peter Mandler's criticism in the English Historical Review. Fritzsche also can't seem to make up his mind which war triggers modernity: in this book, it's the wars of Napoleon; in his "Reading Berlin," it's the Franco-Prussian War; and in his "Germans into Nazis," it's the First World War. In each case war is a watershed that divides historical consciousness and creates nostalgia.

hi,

Svetlana Boym's The Future of Nostalgia Basic Books 2002 is a really good text and considers nostalgia within two main categories - Restorative and Reflective.

Let's remember, too, that "nostalgia" began its life as a word when, in 1688, doctoral student Johannes Hofer (1669–1752) introduced it in dissertation at the University of Basel. It was meant to describe the mental disorder experienced by Swiss mercenary soldiers stationed in the "low countries" and suffering from a debilitating homesickness. More than a passing melancholy, it is said to have been triggered by memories of mountain landscapes and (honest) the sound of cowbells of the sort that encourage downhill skiiers today. As well, among its symptoms were high fevers, headaches, gastrointestinal upset, fainting and even death.

Thus, nostalgia seemed destined for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (the "bible" of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists). Its definition, of course, has widened to include not just pathological yearnings for home, but almost any level of distress or "separation anxiety" with a temporal dimension. As Simone Signoret so eloquently put it in the title of her autobiography, "Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be."

What's more, speaking of the 1960s, it is worth recalling that oppressive authoritarian regimes often successfully marginalize and repress dissent by labeling people with opposing political viewpoints as "mentally ill." This was a favourite device of officials in the USSR, who sent their critics off to mental institutions to be cured of their rebellious tendencies.

Today, the authorities in North America are able to mock critics by saying that anyone who is overly critical of vocational education, technologically enhanced learning, the dominance of corporate culture in postsecondary schools and any number of social causes from the legalization of illicit drugs to the criminalization of unsavoury financial practices is "stuck in the sixties."

As a "pre-boomer," I was already more-or-less "of age," when the comfortable world of sexist, racist and imperialist America was confronted with the so-called "counter-culture" and university campuses seemed awash in hippies, dippies and yippies and aspirant yuppies. Somehow, sexist, racist and imperialist America managed to survive nicely and went on to maintain a state of permanent war ... from which the only apparent dissent seems to be "nostalgia."

Perhaps it's time for a sixties "do-over" ... except without the acid rock, the curious clothing and the preoccupation with navel-gazing (our own and others). Neal Cassady is dead. Jim, Janis and Jimi are dead. So, unfortunately, are Abbie Hoffman and Phil Ochs.

Lacking leadership aspirations and skills, I won't volunteer to lead the Old Folks Brigade, but I'll happily join up ... if, that is, anyone still cares, or ever did.

nostalgia, the role which past play in the present. it is a good idea in social changes in the societies. you can use Marx Idea in 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. and hope in the past idea in Walter Benjamin's 18 theses on history. see this fantastic book

The Promise Of Memory: History And Politics In Marx, Benjamin, And Derrida (S U N Y Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) by Matthias Fritsch

It could be considered as délectation morose

This is a partial answer, especially about the part of your question that concerns post-communist societies. I was quite impressed by the article on "(N)Ostalgia" by Jonathan P G Bach when I first read it.

The article is accessible here:

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pc/summary/v014/14.3bach.html

And as a PDF file here:

http://is.muni.cz/el/1421/podzim2011/FAVz028/Bach_The_Taste_Remains.pdf

It would be interesting to find out what further developments have taken place in this stream of research.

There is an interesting article in the New York Times from today about Nostalgia and the field of "Nostalgia studies"

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html?_r=0

There's an interesting collection of chapters in Maria Todorova and Zsuzsa Gille's edited book 'Post-Communist Nostalgia' (Berghahn, 2010, ISBN 9780857456434). It also includes 2 chapters on Romania

Jaime Pahissa, Spanish musician/composer/musicologist, in a biography "Manuel de Falla," theorizes that southern Spanish folk music known as "deep song" (cante jondo) vacillates between agitation and nostalgia. Nostalgic melodies are a way to retain the past, especially if viewed as a deeper, purer time than the present.

It seems that your question demands for grounded theory construction instead of testing any hypothesis. So, the issue of methodology seems to be of prime importance. First, what data are you using to answer the question? If you intend to ground your answer on an analysis of discursive practice, beginning with a study of writings that render nostalgic experiences can be a good start.

I had tried to apply the method with the data derived from two writings (though not fully developed so far) in one article (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259632410_Colonial_Paranoia_and_Cultural_Narcissism_as_a_Writing_Trope?ev=prf_pub). Hope it will be of some use.

Working Paper Colonial Paranoia and Cultural Narcissism as a Writing Trope

Look at Renato Rosaldo's 1989 essay, "Imperialist Nostalgia."

This is a very interesting question and debate. I wrote a column a few years ago (in Welsh) about nostalgia. In this I dicussed that the Welsh word which covers this is the very broad term 'hiraeth' which is more usually associated with feelings of longing for the homeland and associated melancholy, rather than the fluffy 'those were the days my friends' sentiment that the English word elicits...so I was interested to read of its origins above...perhaps exploring its construction in different languages would be a good way of unpicking it? Just an after-dinner-mint thought...

hello here are the relevant publications :

http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol15num3/oke.pdf

http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1112&context=ijcs

https://books.google.co.th/books?hl=en&lr=&id=knx3dYEBTVQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=theories++of+nostalgia&ots=SQKsymWjyC&sig=SduBNyDxF_wIowIibYepUqnkORU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=theories%20%20of%20nostalgia&f=false

https://books.google.co.th/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-9MJCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=theories++of+nostalgia&ots=2oNI7lNDxi&sig=m7T613e0rkcH6wI9PXLMhWKkz3s&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=theories%20%20of%20nostalgia&f=false