Abstract

For some decades now, studies on memory have highlighted how public memory is a space of conflict that often intersects the public use of history. Until recently, the colonial past of many European countries remained outside of a profound reconsideration; this has made it possible to fix a self-absolving memory linked to the colonial past in European societies. The recent protests linked to the Rhodes Must Fall and Black Lives Matters movements denounced the colonial legacy still present in European societies. However, the narration of that past still seems to be intact and, in most European countries, centered on the conviction of the civilizing work carried out by the Europeans in the colonies.