Between Nostalgia and Solastalgia: Reflections with Katharina Niemeyer

Abstract

The interview with German-Canadian researcher Katharina Niemeyer seeks to delve into her intellectual and affective journey across the fields of media theory, memory, and temporalities, with an emphasis on the relations between nostalgia, solastalgia, and co-creation. Reflecting on her academic and personal background, Niemeyer weaves together philosophical and affective knowledge to explore how media shape our ways of remembering, forgetting, and feeling. The conversation also addresses the Solastalgies Créatrices project, carried out in the Magdalen Islands (Canada), where Niemeyer investigated, in collaboration with Amandine Alessandra, Magali Uhl, Célia Forget and the local community, ways of narrating environmental and emotional losses through participatory memory practices. By distinguishing between nostalgia and solastalgia, the researcher advocates for attentive listening to collective affects and for the creation of memory spaces oriented toward the future.