Search

People once died of nostalgia. This article traces the remarkable trajectory of 'la nostalgie africaine' from its original understanding as a clinical form of homesickness to the wistful, but wholly benign, feeling we are familiar with today. It does so by looking at French attempts at colonizing Algeria in the nineteenth century against the backdrop of changing medico-scientific theories of human acclimatization to warm climates. I argue that the latter provoked a positive reevaluation of homesickness and led to the development of a 'nostalgic simulacra': a replica French environment capable of sustaining the sepia-tainted illusion of an 'Algérie française.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reflection on the history of a deep state of melancholy referred to as nostalgia and experienced by French colonists or soldiers in Algeria between 1830 and 1880. Based on military and colonial archives, medical sources and private or official letters, the article discusses the social and emotional context in which young soldiers could let themselves die from nostalgic grief during this period. The means used at the time to help soldiers and emigrants cope with nostalgia are examined.