Issahaku Paul A
Memorial University School of Social Work, 230 Prince Philip Dr, St. John's, NL, A1C5S7, Canada.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2022 Mar;37(1):89-114. doi: 10.1007/s10823-021-09445-9. Epub 2021 Dec 3.
This study explores nostalgia among older adults in present-day Ghana by investigating how they subjectively compare themselves to older adults in the past. A purposive sample of 23 older adults provided data through semi-structured face-to-face interviews and data analysis employed a general inductive approach, with a focus on content and thematic analytic procedures. The findings show an overall theme of 'the good old days', how participants compare themselves negatively to older adults in their past, believing and feeling that older adults in the past enjoyed better health and longevity and had more care and respect. While participants generally praise the past for its perceived virtue and vitality, they scold the present for a perceived degeneration. Findings of this study support theoretical descriptions and empirical research conclusions on nostalgia as: an emotionally invested remembrance of the past; a yearning to relive the past or reconnect with people and things past, or to return to places in the past; and an evocation of the beauty of the past in contrast to the ugliness of the present. Consonant with this, the study shows how participants evoke the beauty of the past, where, comparatively, older adults enjoyed a life of dignity. In what is characteristic of nostalgic evocations, participants reclaim the lost beautiful past, where people ate natural - healthy - foods, engaged in physically active work, and were stronger into late adulthood. Again, consonant with nostalgia as a discourse of critique of the present with the past as yardstick, participants express disenchantment with the present for a perceived steady degradation of the values of care, respect, and obedience to elders, which made older adults in past generations a privileged class. To this end, we may conclude that nostalgia not only speaks to the present from the past, it seeks to recreate the past in the future.
本研究通过调查当今加纳的老年人如何将自己与过去的老年人进行主观比较，来探究他们的怀旧情绪。23名老年人的目的抽样样本通过半结构化面对面访谈提供数据，数据分析采用一般归纳法，重点是内容和主题分析程序。研究结果显示出一个总体主题“美好的旧时光”，即参与者如何将自己与过去的老年人进行负面比较，认为并感觉过去的老年人享有更好的健康和更长的寿命，并且得到更多的关爱和尊重。虽然参与者普遍赞扬过去的美德和活力，但他们指责现在出现了退化。本研究的结果支持了关于怀旧的理论描述和实证研究结论，即：对过去的情感投入式回忆；渴望重温过去或与过去的人和事重新建立联系，或回到过去的地方；以及唤起过去的美好以对比现在的丑陋。与此一致的是，该研究展示了参与者如何唤起过去的美好，相对而言，过去的老年人享有有尊严的生活。在怀旧唤起的典型特征中，参与者找回了失落的美好过去，那时人们吃天然健康的食物，从事体力劳动，并且在晚年身体更强壮。同样，与以过去为标准对现在进行批判的怀旧话语一致，参与者对现在表示失望，因为他们认为关爱、尊重和顺从长辈的价值观在不断退化，这使得过去几代的老年人成为特权阶层。为此，我们可以得出结论，怀旧不仅从过去审视现在，还试图在未来重现过去。
