Nostalgia, Religion and Popular Culture

Drawing on the event of Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022 as a central case study, Chris Deacy explores the way we navigate the relationship between nostalgia and religion.

Focusing on the lived experiences of ‘ordinary people’ and in tandem with the ‘turn to the self’ discourse, Deacy suggests that our relationship with nostalgia illustrates the shift from objective and transcendent value-systems towards the domain of everyday experience, love and loss.

Deacy revisits the way we understand religion and the secular, using the medium of popular culture, such as radio, film, TV and music to interrogate the ‘nostalgia-as-religion’ narrative. The interpersonal and social elements of nostalgia are explored, such as through the way radio fostered virtual communities and played a key role regarding national, religious and cultural memory during the mourning of the Queen.

Attention is given to how nostalgia has evolved over time, and how it can be understood as a religious process which transforms our lives at a time of loss and contributes to a eschatological future.