Retelling the past: Narrative construction and reconstruction using personal photographs and the elicitation of nostalgia

While extensive research on nostalgia highlights its significance as a pancultural emotion which is experienced across the lifespan and which has various psychological benefits, qualitative research on the phenomenological and contextual aspects of nostalgia is limited. This article utilizes a constructivist approach to examine nostalgic narratives constructed in the process of selecting and discussing one’s personal photographs. The study aims to expand on the psychological benefits of nostalgia by focusing on the experiential and contextual aspects of this emotion. Eliciting nostalgia through participants’ childhood photographs during in-depth interviews revealed three strategies for reconstructing narrative and giving meaning to past events: (1) Mending the past; (2) Unchosen photographs; (3) Turning points. Utilizing nostalgia and personal photographs not only revealed implicit cultural context, but also assisted participants in creating continuity over time and enabled beneficial contact with complex and conflictual parts of self and biography. Therefore, this unique methodology has potential applications within qualitative research methods in psychology as well as within various therapeutic interventions.