In recent years the literature on nostalgia has expanded to the point that some scholars already speak of “nostalgia studies” as a discipline in its own right. This volume proceeds from the conviction that taking stock of this area of research in all its diversity will generate a sounder foundation for these studies. Such is the aim of the Routledge Handbook on Nostalgia.

A notoriously slippery concept, nostalgia has attracted many different and sometimes contrasting definitions and interpretations. Rather than trying to replace this polyphony by a catch-all definition or favouring one approach or perspective, the Routledge Handbook on Nostalgia aims to map the state of the field as extensively as possible, bringing together contributions from different disciplines. Instead of case studies on specific examples (one film, book, music album, artefact, site or fashion) we are looking for short and concise overview articles on one more general aspects of nostalgia (the remake, retro fashion, the ruin, the post-industrial site etc.).

More specifically, we are looking for contributions for one of the following five sections:

1. Disciplines (philosophy, anthropology, geography, psychology, literary studies, etc.)
2. Concepts (memory, emotion, gender, queer nostalgia, afro-nostalgia etc.)
3. History and politics (conservatism, [post-]socialism, [post-]colonial etc.)
4. Materiality (spaces, places, objects, souvenirs etc.)
5. Media and genres (film, television, the novel, the memoir etc.)

Suggestions for topics that do not fit under one of these headings are also welcome!

If you are interested to contribute please send an abstract of no more than 250-350 words alongside a short CV to tobias.becker@fu-berlin.de and dylan.trigg@univie.ac.at by March 31st 2022.