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Displacement and Identity Discontinuity: The Role of Nostalgia in Establishing New Identity Categories
Author(s) -
Milligan Melinda J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2003.26.3.381
Subject(s) - discontinuity (linguistics) , identity (music) , displacement (psychology) , relation (database) , social psychology , psychology , sociology , collective identity , face (sociological concept) , aesthetics , computer science , psychoanalysis , art , political science , social science , linguistics , philosophy , database , politics , law
I examine how displacement affects identity continuity by studying the disruption experienced by a group of employees when their organization moved to a new site. Data on the organization (a university campus restaurant known as the “Coffee House”) included participant observation and interviews. I argue for the importance of examining identity continuity and discontinuity in relation to specific interactional experiences in and attachment to the built environment. I expand on the analysis of nostalgia as a means of creating identity continuity in the face of discontinuity by adding an explicit focus on identity discontinuity in relation to the experience of displacement, and on the generation‐delineating abilities of nostalgia, specifically in relation to shared spatial experience.