School Desks and the Politics of Nostalgia

• In Event: Politics of Memory and Race

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which carving initials into school desks became fodder for political nostalgia during the twentieth century. Drawing from historical and political theory, it outlines multiple forms of nostalgia: the reactionary type that historians usually condemn, and a more inclusive type rooted in communitarian thought. In arguing for the necessity of the latter, the paper advocates the preservation of historic school buildings (and the toleration of some forms of vandalism) in urban and rural communities.

Author

• Campbell Scribner, University of Maryland - College Park