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“Varieties of Nostalgia” in Argentinean and Chilean Generations

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The Commonalities of Global Crises

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Abstract

Raimundo Frei examines intergenerational ‘modalities of nostalgia’ in Chile and Argentina. Based on narrative interviews with two agegroups, the chapter reveals how different collective templates of nostalgia are employed in private-life stories when people link public memories of their countries’ past authoritarian dictatorships to, on one hand, contemporary street insecurity, and, on the other, to criticisms of neoliberal policies formulated by the latest wave of youth activism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sixty years ago, Fodor already spoke of ‘varieties of nostalgia’ in the context of psychoanalysis. He understood nostalgia as “yearning for our prenatal home” (1950: 30), that is longing for the mother’s womb.

  2. 2.

    The sample included 30 “ordinary people” from each national capital and was balanced in terms of gender and class.

  3. 3.

    Since 1940, when Colonel Peron became minister of labour and later assumed his first presidency, Peronism has dominated the Argentine political spectrum (Ostiguy 2009). Peronism ranges from a historical working-class party with strong influence on trade unions to, nowadays, clientelistic networks entangled in poor districts (Levitsky and Murillo 2008). Moreover, Peronism has switched from left to right several times. Presidents Menem and Kirchner, for example, both belong to while representing antagonistic positions.

  4. 4.

    Kirchner’s narrative turn has ample precedents in previous decades, in particular, in the second generation of human-rights activists.

  5. 5.

    I thank Bernhard Forchtner for pointing out this aspect of Frye’s work to me.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations Development Programme, Santiago, Chile

    Raimundo Frei

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  1. Raimundo Frei
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, Nottingham , United Kingdom

    Christian Karner

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Bernhard Weicht

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Frei, R. (2016). “Varieties of Nostalgia” in Argentinean and Chilean Generations. In: Karner, C., Weicht, B. (eds) The Commonalities of Global Crises. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50273-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50273-5_12

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