In reference to my enjoyment of baking cookies on cold days and 1950's diners I refer to my "white nostalgia". Referring to feeling sentimental about a culture that wasn't necessarily a big part of my upbringing but I feel romantic about nevertheless because it is part of American culture (Also under this category is my connection to the show The Wonder Years)
Now, Caviar said that nostalgia can only be referenced in terms of "the good old days" and something a person has actually experienced and now has emotional connection to. I wasn't really sure who was right, so I researched.
The term was originally coined by Johannes Hofer, a medical student in 1678 to refer to "the pain a sick person feels because he wishes to return to his native land, and fears never to see it again". During the period, from the late seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century, doctors actually diagnosed and treated nostalgia. Cases resulting in death were known and soldiers were sometimes successfully treated by being discharged and sent home. (Although a diagnosis was, however, generally regarded as an insult)
Now, nostalgia is more commonly referred to, not as a medical condition or a field of study, but as a feeling that any normal person can have. Nostalgia can often be associated with a fond childhood memory, a certain game or activity, often with a certain person, or a treasured personal object.
Studies show that many people believe that years or decades past people were better off than they are now, and that there had been a higher standard of living then, even if this is not always the case. This belief can be very characteristic of nostalgia, of the "good ol' days." Items in pop culture can often trigger a strong feeling of nostalgia; TV shows like Lost In Space and foods like moon pies, for instance, can bring back wistful memories for Baby Boomers. People can also have nostalgia for a certain decade.
Nostalgia is no longer a medical condition, but it can produce symptoms that are very much real and physical in nature. These symptoms can include, but are not limited to, tightening of chest and/or throat, pain in the pit of the stomach, and eventually feelings of despair.
So, you decide. Is my use of the word correct? (I still think it is)
6 comments:
Well, your research meant nothing to you I see. If you need help interpreting information, I am available for tutoring.
As per your research, nastolgia is something one feels when they miss something from their past. You can't miss something that was never a part of your life. I can't miss Joe Smith's dog Eddy, because I don't know Joe Smith or his dog. I can't miss Eddy if I simply HEARD about Eddy. If I felt a sense of loss or longing, I'd be ROMANTICIZING Eddy or his memory.
I can be nostaglic about my days at Berkeley High. But I can't be nostalgic for, say, the 1950s (like Haley).....I'd just be romanticizing my perception of what the 50s where like.
If you need any other advice, get at me.
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I'm still using the phrase "white nostalgia" because often I do bake cookies, and enjoy hot chocolate on rainy days. But it's something that white people usually miss. And in some cases I miss it to.
You hate hot chocolate. I bought some especially for you and you said "I actually don't like hot chocolate"
Perhaps we can channel Raha here. She often feels "nostalgic" about things she has never experienced. She uses the term to mean not "i miss this thing from my past" but rather "i wish i could experience this thing i've never experienced, right now". Allow me to demonstrate.
Raha: Shaf! i'm feeling so nostalgic for the summer. let's really make camping in baja happen"
Shaf: Rah, you're not nostalgic for it, you're just excited about it.
Raha: Well, you know what i mean!
Thoughts?
It seems that you're problem here is that you've underestimated the power and symbolic nature of The Wonder Years. Clearly none of us experienced a suburban childhood in the 1970's, yet each of us experienced a version of the events that transpire in Kevin's life. Whether its his love for Winnie, his friendship with Paul, the relationship or lack thereof with his brother Wayne, learning to understand you're parents for the first time. We were all children at one point, and now we grew up, so you might not have white nostalgia but rather childhood nostalgia, and thank god childhood doesn't need to be translated to be understood between different cultures.
P.S. watch out for the episode where Kevin goes to the office with his dad, those symptoms you talked up rear their ugly heads with veracious tenacity.
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