Paper short abstract

Based on anthropological fieldwork in progress (2006-2009) this paper deals with processes of production, appropriation and re-production of 'colonial nostalgia' in the city of Malacca (West Malaysia). From this empirical setting, I discuss the concept of 'colonial nostalgia'.

Paper long abstract

Building upon Michael Hertzfeld's concept of 'structural nostalgia' (2005), and Renato Rosaldo's notion of 'imperial nostalgia' (1989), this paper proposes a critical look on 'Colonial Nostalgia'. Emphasis is put in the production of 'colonial nostalgia' among Malacca Portuguese Eurasians. I will attempt to do though the analysis of travelling and writing practices (during the 20th Century). A second level of analysis deals with contemporary uses and re-appropriations of colonial nostalgia, either though tourism process and/or identity politics. A third level of analysis is drawn by methodological and epistemological concerns in approaching nostalgia, as a cultural practice. Following the intellectual history of the concept, I discuss how translatable is this concept, from a Eurasian perspective.