Les usages politiques de l'histoire nationale en France aujourd'hui (The political usage of national history in modern France)

InFrancedebate is unfolding over historical issues. Historical science is now called upon by the new French government to provide support for new integrationist policies. The government policy consists upon imposing on the scientific community its own understanding of national history as an ascendant line that leads to the creation of the modern French state. The French historians resist government attempts questioning the necessity or validity of such an approach. The scientific community is concerned that the policy might undermine the independence of historical research. The article deals with the problem of so-called “historical” laws that set out to accommodate demands and grievances of national minorities inFrance. In a number of cases the laws came into conflict with existing French legislation and turned out to be a factor with a potential to delimit and censor the scale and variety of historical research.