Abstract

In this study, nostalgia will be investigated historically and contextually. Nostalgia first appeared as a medical diagnosis in 1688. Since that time, nostalgia's verity and conceptualization has changed dramatically. What was once a very serious medical condition is now considered a bittersweet emotion. How did this happen and why? ;In order to address these questions, Michel Foucault's concepts of power/knowledge and genealogy will be applied in the interpretation of each text studied. Therefore, the relevant philosophical and methodological concepts will be discussed early in the first chapter. Analysis will include commentary introducing the interpretation of themes and exemplars found within the texts. Interpretation will focus on power/knowledge---the mutual relationship in which knowledge production, culture, and power mutually shape and are shaped by the signification of nostalgia. I will demonstrate how these interpretations fit into Foucault's power/knowledge sequence. At the completion of this textual analysis, a genealogy of nostalgia will have been created. From this research, the workings of power/knowledge and its effect on the signification of nostalgia have been interpreted. The reader will be able to trace important patterns and discontinuities throughout the history of nostalgia in Western culture. It is the author's intent that this dissertation will serve as an exemplar and stimulus for the use of Foucauldian research methods in the study of psychology. ;Texts were interpreted using Foucault's genealogical approach and interpretations have been proposed in accordance with Foucault's concept of power/knowledge to answer the following questions: What is the discursive formation surrounding nostalgia? By what means has nostalgia's signification changed? What professional groups have proposed these changes and for what gain? The researched texts have been arranged according to themes, exemplars, authors' profession and historical era. Thematic patterns and exemplars apparent within and between text categories were collected, compared and contrasted within their particular historical contexts