| dc.description.abstract | Nostalgia was first conceived as a clinical entity in the seventeenth century,
and understood as an extreme psychological and physical reaction to
dislocation. The condition was interpreted as a rupture of bonds thought to
bind individuals to their local environment.
This dissertation analyses the medical and political meanings attached to
nostalgia in nineteenth-century France. It traces the medical and psychiatric
history of nostalgia, and its rise and decline as a nosological category. In
contrast to other extant interpretations, it shows how nostalgia was
constructed in largely spatial terms. Nostalgia's subsequent temporalisation
and internalisation reflect the emergence of new models of subjectivity within
French psychology and psychiatry.
The dissertation also shows how an examination of a neglected account in
medical history can enrich our understanding of French nation-building and
nationalism. It demonstrates that medical discussions of nostalgia informed,
and were informed by, larger political considerations. In particular, it
examines the role of nostalgia in debates about identity, patriotism and
national belonging. Even after its demise as a clinical category, the concept
continued to carry important ideological meanings relating to the role of the
physical environment in human development, and the equation of physical
displacement and pathology continued to influence French psychiatric and
political discourses until the fin de siecle. | en_US |
