Table Of Contenti'i () ~ t Jig i J J n cl the IIl1ll1l g r J III I cl c n t
Yesterday's Self
Philosophy and the Global Context
Series Editor: Michael Krausz, Bryn Mawr College
This series addresses a range of emerging global concerns. It situates philo
sophical efforts in their global and cultural contexts, and it offers works from
thinkers whose cultures are challenged by globalizing movements. Comparative
and intercultural studies address such social and political issues as the environ
ment, poverty, consumerism, civil society, tolerance, colonialism, global ethics,
and community in cyberspace. They also address related methodological issues of
translation and cross-cultural understanding.
Editorial Advisory Board
Ted Benton, University of Essex
David Crocker, University of Maryland
Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame
Elliot Deutsch, University of Hawaii
Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research
Jay Garfield, University of Tasmania
David Theo Goldberg, Arizona State University
Rom Ham~, Oxford and Georgetown Universities
Bernard Harrison, University of Utah
Ram Adhar Mall, University of Bremen/Munich
Joseph Margolis, Temple University
J itendra Mohanty, Temple Universiry
Ashis Nandy, Universiry of Delhi
Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago
Amelie Oskenberg Rorty, Brandeis Universiry
Mark Sagoff, University of Maryland
Ken-Ichi Sasaki, University of Tokyo
Ofelia Schutte, University of Florida
Margarita Valdes, University of Mexico
Kwasi Wiredu, University of South Florida
Intellectual Property: Moral, Legal, and International Dilemmas (1997) by Adam D.
Moore
Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice, and Global Stewardship (1998) ed
ited by David A. Crocker and Toby Linden
Alternative Visions: Paths in the Global Village (1998) by Fred Dallmayr
Philosophical Reflections on the Changes in Eastern Europe (1998) by William L.
McBride
Intercultural Philosophy (2000) by Ram Adhar Mall
Formal Transgression: John Stuart Mill's Philosophy of International Affairs (2000) by
Eddy M. Souffrant
Limits of Rightness (2000) by Michael Krausz
Yesterday's Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity (2002) by Andreea Deciu Ritivoi
Philosophical Questions: East and West (2002) edited by Bina Gupta
Yesterday's Self
Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity
Andreea Deciu Ritivoi
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Copyright © 2002 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ritivoi, Andreea Deciu, 1970-
Yesterday's self: nostalgia and the immigrant identity / Andreea Deciu Ritivoi.
p. cm.-(Philosophy and the global context)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7425-1360-2 (cloth: alk. paper)-ISBN 0-7425-1361-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Nostalgia. 2. Identity (Psychology) 1. Title. H. Series.
BF575.N6 .R58 2002
305.9'0691-dc21
2002001781
Printed in the United States of America
r::;:.TM
'I:::::;j The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To my grandmother, Elena Popescu
and in memory of my grandfather, Ion Popescu
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Acknowledgments
I began my work on nostalgia in the stimulating environment of the New Eu
rope Institute for Advanced Studies, Bucharest, where I was a fellow from
1998 to 2000. My gratitude goes to all the other fellows for their generous
comments and suggestions. I also offer special thanks to Alan Gross, Barbara
Johnstone, Peter Jones, David Kaufer, Michael Krausz, Peggy Knapp, and
Thomas Wren, who read the entire manuscript or parts of it, making invalu
able suggestions and helping me to clarify my own ideas. Traveling back and
forth between eastern Europe and North America, I myself have been
touched by nostalgia in numerous ways. I want to thank all my European and
American friends who were patient with me until I made my choice. Most of
all, I want to thank my husband, Milu Ritivoi, for being my steady ground.
viii
Introduction
In the 1980s, about eight million immigrants from all over the world entered
the United States; in the 1990s, the number grew to nine million, and it is
expected to continue to increase in the future. In 1992, the National Re
search Council organized a workshop to assess the data needs and future
trends in the research on immigration to the United States.! One of the rec
ommendations issued by the council addressed the problem of adjustment to
the new culture, emphasizing its crucial importance for establishing immi
gration policies. Broadly conceived as the ability to carry out daily tasks in
the new environment by understanding and familiarizing oneself with it,
"immigrant adjustment includes changes in individual behavior, such as cul
tural patterns (English-language use and ability, religion, food preferences),
social and economic achievements (labor-force participation, job skills, edu
cation, income), family status (number of children, intermarriage), health
and social well-being, cultural and political values, and participation in so
cial and political organizations."z This definition appears to be predicated on
a twofold assumption: that the immersion into a new culture, of the kind in
volved by immigration, does not happen unproblematically, but rather by
triggering pervasive and profound change at the level of the individual in
question. While such an assumption probably seems commonsensical enough
to go unnoticed, it is connected to two more general assumptions that are of
ten the subject of intense debate in various disciplinary contexts, from phi
losophy and psychology to medicine and genetics: that the environment
shapes self-identity, to the point that a person is largely a product of the
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