Neighborhood nostalgia: Generational differences in three neighborhoods in Valparaíso

Abstract

In this article we discuss results of research on the nostalgic experiences of urban change encountered by people of different generations of long-stay families from three neighborhoods in Valparaíso, Chile. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2019 and 2020, we analyze the memories, imaginaries, and longings that people of different generations associate with this feeling. We discuss the idea of “structural nostalgia” proposed by Herzfeld, according to which the experience of nostalgia could be understood as a social memory transmitted between generations. Within this framework, we find that the people interviewed ascribe a different meaning to this feeling according to their age and past experiences. In sum, the article shows how the study of nostalgia reveals generational spaces that overlap and sometimes contradict one another at the scale of a single neighborhood.