Mapping Nostalgia(s)

This chapter proposes a historical and theoretical reading of the concept of nostalgia in interdisciplinary academic debates. Starting from 1688, the year in which this emotion was coined as such by the scholar Johannes Hofer, in these pages I investigate the semantic evolutions of nostalgia, looking especially at the way it presents itself within various cultures. I create a dialogue between theoretical and disciplinary positions, specifically focusing on the identification and untangling of the cultural mechanisms that inform the construction of nostalgic meanings. In the second part of this chapter, I deal with how a semiotic approach to the study of nostalgia can contribute to a more complete definition of this emotion in textual and cultural contexts. In particular, in this chapter I consider how nostalgia can construct indexical links with past temporalities, spaces and objects, relying on cultural heritage and materiality to do so.