In this Ethical Matters talk, Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from its first identification in seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies).
Nostalgia is a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is one of the many ways we communicate a desire for the past, dissatisfaction with the present and our visions for the future. Arnold-Forster’s history of this complex, slippery emotion is a lens through which to consider the changing pace of society, our collective feelings of regret, dislocation and belonging, the conditions of modern and contemporary work, and the politics of fear and anxiety.
Her book, Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion is a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in. It will be available on the day.
Age Recommendation: 16+
Price: Standard (in person) £9 • Concessions (in person) £6 • Standard (online) £6 • Members FREE
Access Information
Due to the age and Grade Il listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.
All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free), There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.
Other events that may interest you
The Watermelon Woman
https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-undesirables-the-law-that-locked-away-a-generation/
