Introduction: Online memorials
How is the past recalled to discuss national and societal grievances in the digital age? In his book, Zeitgeist Nostalgia: On Populism, Work and the ‘Good Life’, Gandini (2020) argues that nationalist nostalgic sentiments breed and prosper across social media platforms worldwide. Against the background of global economic crises, wars, coups, and the rise of authoritarian regimes, people from different walks of life are seeking refuge in the past – in times when the world was less confusing. As such, social media communities dedicated to nationalist nostalgia emerge as sites where discourses on the “purity,” “authenticity,” and “goodness” of the past are pitted against the “messiness,” “ugliness,” and “meanness” of the present. The architecture of these platforms – their filter bubbles and echo chambers – aggravate the users’ sense of estrangement, isolating them from encountering opposing or alternative narratives. Meanwhile, these confined echo chamber...