Mémoires coloniales conflictuelles

Abstract

While colonial history has been largely illuminated by the work of historians since decolonization, the socialization of its memory has been the subject of competitive investments since the 1980s. This contribution firstly proposes to understand the change of the regime of the commemorations and its effects on collective memory relating to the Second World War, since the recognition of France’s responsibility in the deportation of the Jews. Then, we explore the projects of patrimonialization of the colonial history—all oriented towards a “valorization” of colonial history—from a first project initiated by François Mitterrand in the early 1980s to the memorial project supported by the right and included in the 2005 law. We also analyze the various museographic projects on this subject in several cities in France.

Keywords

• colonization
• colonial memory
• patrimonialization
• museum
• political competition