100 Questions / 41
What effect does nostalgia have on the association of memories and the formation of narratives?Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi
2026-08-03
We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The name of each participant is given at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all the answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.
In this project, a question is asked every Saturday, and we ask experts to present their views in the form of a short text (about 100 words) by the end of the week. All the answers will be published together so that the audience can compare and analyze the views. The content is the opinion of the senders and not necessarily the opinion of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be based on about 100 words, in order to be polite and not to leave the discussion incomplete, in some cases, answers longer than this are also accepted.
This time, we asked the experts to send their answers by Sunday night so that all the answers can be published on Tuesday.
From the intertwining of these answers, using artificial intelligence, we have arrived at theories about oral history that will be published in the near future.
Question 41:
What effect does nostalgia (a pleasant emotional feeling accompanied by a kind of longing for a situation in the past) have on the association of memories and the formation of a narrative?
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Answers to Question 41:
Gholamreza Azari Khaksatar
In oral history interviews, nostalgia plays a key role in reviving memories and activating long-term memory. Reminiscing about the past usually involves recounting feelings and emotional experiences. Sometimes the interviewer's questions evoke memories and feelings that may be pleasant or disturbing. In addition, viewing family albums, videos of ceremonies, etc. can act as memory triggers and reveal forgotten details. Therefore, the interviewer must sensitively provide a space to help the interviewee form memories or help them recall distant pasts.
Hasan Beheshtipour
If we define nostalgia as a complex emotion mixed with longing, longing, and pleasure that arises from a sense of distance or loss from a person, place, time, relationship, culture, or valuable experience, and usually by remembering it, it also evokes a sense of continuity of identity and meaning in life; it neither destroys reality nor necessarily makes the narrative unrealistic, but rather affects the way the past is represented and interpreted. The effect of nostalgia is seen in the selection of memories, highlighting or idealizing the past, reconstructing the meaning of events, increasing the coherence of the narrative, strengthening the emotional charge, linking individual experience with collective memory, and judging the past. Nostalgia is therefore part of the oral history data, and the researcher’s task is not to eliminate or discredit the nostalgic narrative, but rather to analyze it by separating the three layers of the narrative: the report of the event, the narrator’s current interpretation of the event, and the elements arising from the nostalgic feeling.
Gholamreza Azizi
It seems that nostalgia can have important effects on the association and re-creation of memories. These effects are due to the same “pleasant emotional feeling accompanied by a kind of longing for a situation in the past.” As is clear from the context of this phrase, nostalgia, since it deals with the human soul and psyche, often occurs unconsciously. Personal experiences have shown that a sense of belonging can partially replace unpleasant memories (which include events, people, places, etc.).It dims the pleasant feeling associated with it), removes it from the mind and makes another part more vivid, and even creates a branch in the mind in order to celebrate the past and add memories to it. Sometimes this effort is made consciously and to decorate and arrange the subject of nostalgia.
Mohammad Mehdi Abdollahzadeh
Oral history interviewers have interesting things to say. Sometimes a question or part of the narrator's answer takes him suddenly into a new world of sadness and joy. After silence, sometimes with tears and smiles, he tells new stories from his experiences. Nostalgia is a complex emotion. A combination of remembering the past, warm feelings, and longing. A professional interviewer sees this change in behavior. With elegance, respect, and situational awareness, it makes optimal use of it to make the narrative deeper and more meaningful. This psychological defense mechanism creates a sense of stability and continuity in the individual, allowing them to feel that they have been able to overcome painful situations with pride and tell their scattered narratives in the form of a continuous story.
Hamid Qazvini
Nostalgia can always play a role in stimulating memory and recalling memories, and in most cases, it is accompanied by positive feelings and energy. In this way, the feeling of failure and fruitlessness of life is removed from the individual and his circle of communication will be restored. A kind of self-confidence is also strengthened and it helps the narrator to rearrange his identity so that he can review his past more easily and not try to hide or ignore some memories. These will lead to a sense of satisfaction in expressing memories. For this reason, the oral history researcher must be able to revive the narrator's sense of nostalgia at the appropriate time. Of course, this should be done to the extent that the narrator is not overwhelmed by nostalgia and pays attention to layers of life that have a negative or failed feeling.
Abolfat’h Mo’men
The narrator's emotional feeling and attachment to a historical event in which he played a role makes him remember its small and large details and be eager to narrate it. This becomes a strong motivation for the perpetuation of that event. However, we should not be unaware that this attachment sometimes highlights unpleasant or enjoyable narratives and ignores issues or self-censors. As a result, discovering the truth becomes more difficult for the historian and interviewer and poses a serious challenge. The oral historian must be able to manage and extract other dimensions of memories. This attachment creates an emotional narrative that deviates from the scientific path and the main issue is marginalized. This feeling is a double-edged sword; both beneficial and harmful. Interviewer management can make the best use of this feeling.
Seyyed Mohammad Sadeq Feyz
The narrator is a human being with all human characteristics. Even some narrators, especially at certain points, experience certain emotions and feelings in expressing their memories, which is also a sign of human nature and cannot be criticized. Although it leads to selection in expressing memories and highlighting parts of them, the main point is that the interviewer and the compiler of memories should be able to guide the interview process and reduce the burden of emotions, while smoothing the path of mentioning memories. However, the emergence and intensification of emotions can be a sign of the narrator's attachment to the subject, and its reflection will be useful for the reader in better understanding the narrative and the narrator's personality and inferring his perspective on the issues.
Abolfazl Hassanabadi
Oral history and nostalgia are considered the most important factors shaping individual and collective narratives. Nostalgia means recalling memories to express oral narratives from the past. This recall is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the past, but rather its reconstruction from the perspective of today's views and needs. Nostalgic narratives, rather than being mere reports of events, narrate an identity-based story from the past, from the perspective of the memory holder. From this perspective, nostalgia can maintain a sense of continuity of life by making past stories meaningful, strengthen belonging to family and city, and increase social resilience. The use of nostalgia also varies depending on the type of oral history project. In some subjects, such as social history and neighborhood history, its capacity to reconstruct identity and collective memory can be utilized. Of course, in some other subjects, the data obtained from it should be used with more care and reflection.
Jafar Golshan
Based on my understanding, hidden in the concept of the word nostalgia is a positive feeling towards a specific past. Therefore, given this positive feeling and interest in a specific past, the narrator (interviewee) is certainly more or less involved in expressing memories of that time in a positive, empathetic, accompanying and wishful way. Thus, this positive nostalgic feeling probably influences what he says. Therefore, it is natural that in some cases he will definitely express his observations and hearings with a few changes in his mind and soul and feel satisfied with saying such words. The result of such a narrative is that all the events, stories, events, and incidents of that past are likely to be good, acceptable, and beautiful, and that all the facts, stories, and incidents of that past are distinctly nostalgic. This is where the historian and professional researcher, with full awareness and knowledge, uses the utmost precision and accuracy in utilizing such memories, along with careful verification.
Artificial Intelligence
Nostalgia, by sweetening the past, takes memories out of their true form and selectively rearranges them. This feeling diminishes the bitter details and highlights the happy moments, because of which the individual narrative of identity becomes a mythologizing of the “former self” rather than an objective representation of history. Such emotional re-creation increases the coherence of the life story and gives it a semantic orientation, but at the same time, it creates a distance between memory and truth that turns the narrative into a tool for healing or escaping from the present. (Deepseek)
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Nostalgia, by evoking pleasant feelings along with longing, enhances the process of memory association and makes people remember the past more vividly and meaningfully. This feeling usually highlights positive memories and downplays negative details; therefore, reconstruction of the past is often accompanied by a kind of idealism. In the formation of narrative, nostalgia also helps people to establish connections between scattered life experiences and create a coherent story of their identity and past. As a result, nostalgic narratives, in addition to transmitting memories, also strengthen a sense of belonging, continuity of identity, and emotional connection with the past. (Chatgpt)
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