The Dark Academia aesthetic: nostalgia for the past in social networks The International Journal of Creative Media Research Lara López Millán (University of Valencia) DOI: https://doi.org/10.33008/IJCMR.2023.08 | Issue 10 | July 2023 This article aims to approach the nostalgic essence of the aesthetic community Dark Academia through the social network Tumblr, in order to create new knowledge about nostalgic practices in the virtual environment. To do so, I will analyse the origins and evolution of the community, with an emphasis on the rise of its popularity in the wake of the global pandemic of 2020. Based on my own experience as a dark academic, I will make use of cyberethnographic and folksonomic analysis from the inside, as a participating member of the community. As a form of supporting research and to give users a voice, I will use survey methodology and online interviews to delve deeper into the nostalgic sensibilities of the community's participants, the dark academics, by surveying a thousand members. In this study, I will evaluate how important visual nostalgia has become in the early 2020s and whether the past is more present than ever among us. Keywords: Dark Academia, Nostalgia, Social Media, Tumblr. Introduction We are currently living in a time of global uncertainty. Having undergone social, political and economic changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, perspectives and approaches to daily life has shifted significantly. Social unrest and the uncertainty of tomorrow has pushed younger generations such as millennials —born between 1982 and 1994—, but especially Generation Z —born between 1995 and 2010—, towards nostalgia for the past. The recent emergence of aesthetic communities on social networks is a clear example of