hal-05658427 Shadows and lights in New Caledonian schools

In the aftermath of communal conflict, wars, colonization, genocide, and dictatorships, what narratives of history should be recognized? Does reconciliation depend on a shared-recognition of memories? When memories are painful or even unspeakable; when reconciliation is ongoing or unrealizable, what should be the role of schools? These issues are currently central to New Caledonia's struggle to write its history. The civil society appears to be seeking to unify, but there remains two blocks while silences reign. In this land of Melanesian oral tradition, which some people like to call “the land of the unspoken”, recent violent events since May 13, 2024 have raised multiple questions on the political, social, economic and memory fronts. This paper intends to question the place of memories, of this violent and colonial past tinged with many different, intertwined traumas, which the political deadlines facing by New Caledonia are reviving. Indeed, over and above the suffering experienced, the difficult “top-down” outcome of the Nouméa Accord continually plunges New Caledonia back into “the past that won't go away”. Focusing on the period known as the “Events” (1891-1989), this paper examines the way in which the memory of this period is transmitted in New Caledonian schools. The particularity of this case study is that, despite archives that are still closed, New Caledonia produced its first textbook based on the adaptation of local curricula in 1992 (just after the “Events”), in an attempt to pass on this part of New Caledonian history. After an analysis of school programs and textbooks, and numerous interviews (with teachers from different cycles and different communities, with textbook editors and national education inspectors), this paper describes the successes and challenges encountered and tries to open the discussion.