title: Introduction
abstract: After discussing a number of classifications of and approaches to the phenomenon of nostalgia, the editors stake out their own position by providing a functional definition of the term and outlining the overall methodology of the volume. Nostalgia is defined as a discursive practice stemming from a (shared) feeling of loss and potentially serving any political agenda. The individual chapters focus on the working of nostalgia, its interaction with other forms of remembering and its (political) in