Pour une histoire intégrante. La construction de la mémoire dans une société diversifiée

Abstract

As we know, historical science has always resonated with the present ; it never shields itself from its shifts and turns. In this regard, the Québec society offers striking examples. For instance, over the last decade, a controversy broke out over the teaching of national history. Some would like it to serve a civic purpose while others emphasize its function as a source of national consciousness. In a different but closely related vein, another controversy involves the future of the Québec culture in a context of ethno-cultural diversification. The pluralist orientation advocated by a number of citizens (and implemented in Québec inter culturalism) is said to threaten -if not to jeopardize- the cultural continuity of Francophone Québec, thus compelling its members to renounce their identity, to forget who they are. Likewise, the debate over national values depicts the universal values as unsuited to feed a true identity. Here, one is faced with the particularism-universalism dichotomy. In each of these cases (and a few others that are briefly touched on in the text), two spheres are cast as antinomic. Yet, this article aims to show that this is a mistake, that deep down lies a complementarity rather than a contradiction.